Corruption
by Shining Riku
Summary: The war of Chaos just got more intense. Things go downhill after the return of the Void, and the Smashers race against time to stop the conquest of a world ruler gone mad. Add a whole cast of old foes into the mix, and only a miracle could save the world.
1. Prologue: How it Happened

**Ok, before any of you new people read a WORD further, read Supremacy, THEN ACTORS: Skill Lmt.**

**This is part 2 of the Supremacy saga.**

**More of the smasher's pasts shall be revealed, as will the dark history of the world they now live in.**

**The fight against darkness continues.**

**I want to thank everybody that's been with me, through both of my past stories. Your continued support and praise empowers me, and encourages me to continue doing what I've been doing: Writing good stories.**

**Now, epic number two…**

**START!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Two months ago…

Mere days after the melding of many worlds into one, the great and ancient planet Ivalice, the governments of each country held a meeting.

In this meeting, a new power was created. A new government, to control, through the hands of the world leaders, the planet.

The job of this new world government was to control what had already been going well, up to the events, and keep them going smoothly, while helping neighbor countries.

As with all powerful governments, they grow rotten: evil, even.

When this would happen, nobody knew: nobody thought it could ever happen.

Such is the naiveté of people who think they have achieved perfection.

When one thought they had achieved perfection, they were in fact far from it.

Already, the master plan was rotting from the inside.

It started when the grand commander of G.U.N looked into the mystery behind the smasher's recent actions.

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"Good morning, commander." one of the men working a computer said.

"Good morning." the G.U.N. commander said.

He walked to the usual spot he stood in, and watched everybody below him work.

There had been many strange things happening, lately. Weird attacks by unidentified monsters, and the so-called 'heroes of the universe', the super smash brothers, were nowhere to be seen.

They had last been seen traversing about various worlds, doing heck know's what, and every time, they met up with their arch-nemesis's.

Whether they were trying to form an alliance, or what, he didn't know, but he was determined to find out. NOTHING was going to stop him finding out.

There had to be a way.

Little did he know he was moments from discovering it.

"Sir? I think I found something."

"Hmm."

He walked over to the worker's computer, which had a radar screen up. There was another ping, and a blip appeared on the map.

"Where's this?" He asked the man.

"Sir? It's in an area called the Grann desert, in southern Begnion, Tellius, sir.

"…Let's get a better look at this, then." He said.

The man nodded. He spun around in hic chair, then typed out the commands. The satellite, which had been put into orbit only very recently, focused on the spot.

A wire-frame model of the blip appeared on the screen, showing a vast complex ruin beneath the sand.

The only strange part about it, was the distorted space in the middle of the image.

Try as he might, the man couldn't get the spot to vanish.

"…I'm going to find out what that is." The commander said. "Get me a helicopter, and two trusty me."

"Got it, sir." the soldier said before summoning two soldiers. "The helicopter in docking bay Delta is free. The others are being used as we speak.

"Thank you for your help." The commander saluted as he left the room with the two summoned soldiers.

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"Sir? I think we should have brought more men…" The first soldier sighed pathetically.

They were standing out in the middle of the Grann desert, next to the helicopter.

The ruins they were looking for, were, not above the sand, but below.

"You want me to get the shovel, sir?" the second soldier asked.

"No, no, that's fine." The commander said. "Step back."

They did as he asked, and watched as he pulled out a grenade and threw it.

It landed in the sand, then exploded. The ground shook violently as the ground collapsed, revealing a huge hole in the ceiling of part of the ruins.

"We're going in." The commander said.

They walked over to the hole, and jumped in.

Inside, the stone walls were still black, and un-bleached by the harsh sun.

It was deathly chilly inside, and the two soldiers next to the commander shook.

The commander ignored them, and walked down the big hallway they were in, into a huge circular room.

In the middle of the big, dome like room, there was a pedestal.

Above the dome, there floated a hollow crystal orb, which sparkled like a long lost star. Golden light emanated from it, lighting up the room brilliantly.

Everything vanished, to the commander. It was him…and the glow.

He walked to the orb, then noticed an inscription on a plague on the pedestal. He couldn't read it, but for some reason, he understood it.

_"Here lies the eye of all-seeing._

_Beware: To have such a gift, is a curse to those that do not have responsibility._

_Past. Present. Future._

_Nothing shall be past your grasp."_

He looked from the plague, to the orb, which, in his mind, was jeering at him.

Upon closer inspection, there was something inside the crystal orb!

He pulled out his gun, and fired at the orb. The bullet ricocheted off a barrier, which rippled across the surface of the orb. He stepped back, and tried again with a grenade. The explosion wrapped around the shield, then dispelled harmlessly.

"Grr…"

He walked up to it, and touched it.

Suddenly, time froze, and the orb went stark clear. Inside, a golden, transparent gem shaped like an Egyptian eye symbol looked at him, and opened its eye.

The commander was drawn inside his mind in a vortex, and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**I shall conclude the prologue next chapter.**

**What do ya think? Let me know in a review…I'd rly appreciate that.**

**Thank you all for reading!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	2. Prologue: Pt 2

**Short chapter today.**

**UBER short, then starts the adventure next chapter.**

**Hang in there, peeps.**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The commander was lost in a swirl of black, and purple.

He was standing on an invisible floor, and before him, three figures battled with tremendous power.

Dhaos, who's identity remained a mystery to the commander, was holding a grey crystal.

His body was reduced to a golden silhouette, and he exuded waves of unbearable energy. A figure in white shining armor ran forwards with a green beam saber, and rammed it through the specter's heart, which caused him to solidify, and separate into black and white copies of himself.

Then, Mario charged up an all-powerful orb of green energy, and released it.

The explosion was so huge, it blinded the commander.

…_He was after the power of ancients…_

"What?!?" The commander asked.

…_He was protecting the heart of the universe, from those that would use it to conquer all…_

"Where are you!?!" He yelled.

…_Dhaos…protected the universe power from the smashers!!!_

"…"

_Just like Sonic…everybody's against you. You're on your own. You can trust no one. You trust ME, and ONLY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

He screamed, and screamed, and screamed, but the white hot pain on his head wouldn't go away.

He thrashed about on the stone floor, and his fingers frantically scrabbled across his head, but the pain only got worse.

The two soldiers were too frightened to do anything, and they watched as the golden gem burned into the commander's head.

_OBEY ME!!!!!!!!!!_

"NOOO!! GET AWAY!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

_I SAID….OBEY ME!_

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

There was a huge, golden explosion, and after it cleared, the commander lay on the floor, unmoving.

The soldiers then ran to him, and rolled him over.

His eyes were closed, and he looked like he was dead, but his heart still beat, faintly.

"…Ha…Ha ha…" He started laughing. "HA!!! HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!"

He sat right up, and a burst of energy from his body sent the two poor soldiers flying away, where they slammed into the walls.

The G.U.N. commander stood up, laughing maniacally. He finally opened his eyes, which were golden.

His forehead started bulging, and the flesh curled away, revealing the golden eye embedded in his skull.

The eye in the gem opened up, and a red pupil shone like a red moon, bathing the room in sinister red light.

The commander looked around, and gave a sigh of contentment.

Whimper.

He sharply looked over at one of the soldiers, who was cowered against the wall, whimpering in fright.

"Oh, you." The commander said coldly. "Wasn't it you that wanted a promotion?"

No answer.

"Here's a raise for you."

His eyes flashed, and the soldier started floating into the air. By now, the poor man was sobbing in fear. The commander flicked his eyes to the right, and a sickening snap echoed through the room.

The soldier's body fell to the floor, snapped in half. His eyes were closed: he was too afraid to look when his time came.

The commander looked over to the next soldier, who was completely frozen, like he thought the commander wouldn't see him if he held still.

"Go and join him already, you coward." The commander laughed heartlessly.

The soldier got up and ran away, but he was quickly brought zooming back to the room, where he drifted about in perpetual zero gravity.

"Ah…I'm a murderer, am I?" The commander asked him. The soldier stayed silent. "I've murdered thousands…you're just another number on the list, soldier. You mean nothing."

"G-Give him back!" The soldier finally cried.

"Eh?"

"Give the commander back! I know you're not the commander!" He wailed.

The commander's forehead flashed again, and the man fell back down to the floor, lifeless, but unscathed. Somewhere in the void, a separated soul screamed in agony and despair.

"Ah, now, I shall complete myself once again." The commander sighed. "…And wash the universe in darkness once again."

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	3. Aftermath

**Ok, now the adventure starts!**

**I don't have much to say, but…I LOVE TORTURING YOU WITH CLIFFYS!!**

**BWA HA HA HA!**

**AHEM…Sorry 'bout that.**

**Anyways, read on, peeps! Read on…**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

That was how it began.

The two soldiers that perished, were said to have died in a horrible accident.

By unknown means, the commander watched everything the smashers did.

His eye was always watching them.

Then, at his orders, they were to be brought in for questioning, concerning the heart of the universe.

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"…Ugh…"

Link groaned, and rolled over on his back.

Pavement.

"…What happened?" Link asked nobody in particular.

He was in the middle of an intersection in Smash City, a four way road. The pavement was destroyed, like the city had been hit by an earthquake.

As he continued to look around, he could see remains of the warpstar he had been riding.

Then he remembered!

"MATT? KIRBY!?!? NESS!" Link yelled. He stood up as quickly as he could, but then fell back to the pavement with a groan. He looked at his cause of pain, and saw that his ankle was swollen. "Bugger." Link cursed.

He crawled to the edge of the slab of cement he was on, and looked about.

He was on one of the higher slopes in the city, and the slab that he was on, was parallel to the sky. From his perch, he could many buildings below, knocked over or else leaning over precariously, while others smoked ominously.

"Link?"

Link whipped around, and moaned again, as he bashed his ankle against a stone.

"Link! Over here!"

Link followed the voice, and finally forced himself to stand up.

Under an overhang created by the upset pavement, sat Matt, with the rest of the crew of the late Warpstar.

"I was wondering where you were." Matt said worriedly. "I didn't know you were so close by..."

"What the fudge happened?" Link asked.

"We were shot down, remember?" Matt said. "One of those Helicopters got a crack shot at the star's thrusters before we cleared the city's shield, and we crashed."

"…Is everybody ok?" Link asked.

"…For the most part." Matt said. "We're all alive, if that's what you mean. Ness is sleeping off a big bump on his cranium, my arm's dislocated, and Paul here, who grabbed the star at the last second, has a snapped leg."

"…" Paul, the magic swordsman, turned away and shuddered violently. His left leg was wrapped in a metal cast that changed colors like the surface of a bubble.

"He took the brunt of the fall." Matt said. "If it weren't for my shoulder, your ankle, Ness' head, and Paul's leg, we'd be dead."

"The crash was that bad?" Link said.

"Yeah…" Matt sighed. "I wish Dr. Mario were here."

"I think he was captured…" Link remembered. "I was looking down at the mansion when we left, and…WAIT! THEY GOT ZELDA TOO!!!"

"Quiet, fool!" Matt hissed. "They could hear you!!!"

"WHO!?!" Link yelled.

"The G.U.N. soldiers in the helicopters!" Matt said. "I've dealt with them before, with Sonic. If we're not quiet, we'll end up like Zelda and Dr. Mario! D'you want to get caught?"

"…" Link frowned bitterly, and sat down around the small fire Matt had been fueling for a while now. "…So, we camp out here and find a doctor, you say?"

"I didn't say that, but I like the way it sounds." Matt said.

"…Gosh…my head…Oooh…my ACHING head." Ness moaned as he woke up.

"The bumpy prince awakens!" Paul joked.

"Har har…" Ness moaned. "How's everybody else doing?"

"Decent." Matt said. "We'll live."

"Speaking of living, is Kirby ok?" Ness asked.

Matt stayed silent, but looked at a small slab of stone nearby…

"…Wait…" Ness said. "…D-did he really…?"

"POYO!!!" Kirby squealed happily. He popped out of a trapdoor, which the stone sat on top of. Kirby tackled Ness, while speaking gibberish.

"Kirby woke up before we crashed." Matt explained. "He was acting perfectly normal, and was asking me why we were flying away. I told him we were playing hide and seek."

"POYo POYo POYo." Kirby chanted, dancing about.

"…Him, Fox, and myself were the only conscious ones at the time of the crash." Matt said. "He helped me find this hole, and the trap door."

"POY…OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Kirby said, waving at the door.

"It leads to the sewers, and I think it'll provide a fairly safe haven for now." Matt smiled.

"Unsanitary, yet safe." Paul said. "Curse my sensitive nose." he muttered so nobody would hear.

"Fox, Luigi, and Pichu are below." Matt said. "Thankfully, after the quake, we found a bunch of furniture."

"So you're saying we have a base now?" Link said.

"Basically, yes." Matt said. "We'll have time to recover. I can fix everybody's wounds, but I don't have any supplies."

"There's a doctor's office in the city." Link said.

"He moved out weeks ago." Matt said.

"Then, that means…" Link started saying.

"Yeah, we'll have to go back to the mansion to get Dr. Mario's things." Matt said.

"Is it just me, or is this a stinky situation?" Link moaned.

"Poyo…" Kirby sniffed a diaper on the end of a stick, then turned away and stuck out his tongue.

"Kirby!!!"

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**And…that's how it all starts. I'll update soon, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, but now you know what'll happen next.**

**Keep in touch, people, and see ya next time!**

**With that said, Adieu, and PLEASE! Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	4. Road to Recovery

**Back in action already!**

**I have been on a ROLL lately! YEAH!**

**PARTY! PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!**

**(MH flies in and slaps author down.)**

**Oh, there you are. (Rubs head.)**

**MH: I was doing what I was supposed to be secretly doing.**

**Yeah, good for you. You reader peoples will find out sometime later in the story, where master hand went and all. Speaking of which, what happened to Crazy?**

**MH:…You'll find out soon, everybody. HA HA!**

**Bwa ha har har! Anyways, let's start.**

**Thank you, everybody for reviewing! Makes me HAPPY:D!**

**Now…GO!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

At the moment, the eight smashers were in their base, underground.

In the sewer, a natural cave opened up during the mysterious quake that hit the city.

The city was devastated: the quake, causes unknown, destroyed everything and reduced it to ruins. Most of the citizenry evacuated safely…but there are always the unfortunate few that don't escape…

The cave the smashers were situated in was about the size of a one floored house.

The floor, nicely enough, was smooth, without any faults or cracks. In the middle was a few armchairs and a couch, with a lamp and some tables. In the corner was a pile of salvaged food, and near that was a pile of rugs and blankets for sleeping on.

The lamp was powered by an extension cable that ran out of the cave, into the sewer tunnel. It connected to a street-light like fixture, where the wires were arranged so it was made into a temporary socket. The cave entrance was as big as a doorway, and by the looks of it, it was man made. The smashers weren't the first to use it.

"Well, it'll do." Matt said, as he and Link, Kirby, Ness, and Paul walked or hobbled in.

"We were truly fortunate." Fox said. "I don't know who those gun lunatics are, but they really don't know how to do their job!"

The smashers laughed a tiny bit, before Link spoke up.

"Well, they managed to get a few people." Link sighed. "They captured Dr. Mario, and Zelda soon after. I don't know about anybody else, but we'll find out soon enough, I suppose."

"Poyo." Kirby said, patting Link on the back.

"Hey, can we get my computer at the mansion while we're there?" Ness asked.

"Which one?" Link asked.

"It's my laptop. Since you guys already know, I have a bunch of pokemon." Ness blushed. "…I don't want my friends to get lonely, and besides, they can help out LOADS!"

"Ok, we need to get medical supplies, a laptop, and what else?" Matt asked.

"Poyo?"

"No, no more food, Kirby. You'll have to eat lightly." Matt said.

"Way-o!"

"No, no mayonnaise, either!"

Kirby sat down on the ground, and scowled something fierce at the ground, since his arms were too stubby to cross across his chest.

"I dropped my blaster on the lawn last night." Fox said. "I'd like to get it back. It's saved my hide more times than I can count!"

"Ok, you need anything Paul?"

"Medical attention."

"Ok, then. I think we're all set to go, then." Matt said. "We'll also need to find a means of transport: We'll have to leave Smash City sometime!"

"Ya know that Gummi ship Sora and I use?" Paul said. "It might still be in the cargo bay at the mansion. We can fit all our stuff inside it."

"We HAVE it made!" Matt cheered. "Let's get ready, then."

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After a bit of minor preparing, anybody with wounded body parts had their leg, or arm fixed with a temporary brace, so it wouldn't hurt as bad and run less of a risk of hurting it more.

The team used the sewers for cover, and by tunnel they approached the outskirts of Smash City.

Close to the forest road, which led to Smash Mansion, they popped out of a manhole, in the middle of the road. One by one, while the people in the helicopters couldn't POSSIBLY see them, they ran into the woods.

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A few hours later, on Smash Mansion grounds…

The mansion was in ruins. Holes were blown in the walls, part of the roof was collapsed, all windows were blown out, and there were scorch marks here and there: signs of fire.

"…It's so sad, seeing our home like this…" Ness sighed.

"…Heh heh…" Matt chuckled.

"What?"

"Me and Sonic." Matt said. "…Just go ahead, and kick GUN butt when you see them. It won't get you killed, if you're careful."

"Good." Link said. "I don't do any good if I'm holding back."

"Just don't kill them." Matt said. "Give 'em a good spanking, show them you can take them out, but you're human enough to not kill them."

"Poyo?" Kirby asked.

"In YOUR case, don't eat them!"

After a quick laugh, they snuck into the mansion.

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It was decided that Kirby would raid the kitchen and store the food in his mouth. (Hey, he has infinite space in there, he could eat the gummi ship! He stores his warpstar there, anyways.)

Ness was going for his laptop, Link was to get any equipment he could find, whether it was his or not, Paul was looking for armor, Matt for medicinal supplies, Pichu for toys, and Fox was to locate the Gummi ship. Luigi helped Kirby gather some food, but he carried the cookbooks.

A bit later, they met in the basement Den, the entertainment room.

"I found the ship, and it's all set." Fox affirmed. "It's got enough room for our stuff we found, but it has minimal weaponry."

"I found all we need and more." Matt smiled. "I'll have us healed up in no time!"

"I found some beam devices for arm cannons." Link said. "AND, I found the rest of my stuff."

"Isn't anybody around here smart enough to carry extra armor!?!" Paul yelled. "…Am I SMART ENOUGH TO CARRY EXTRA ARMOR!?!?!"

"We got some GOOD cookbooks!" Luigi said.

"POYO!" Kirby screamed his agreement.

"Pichu!" Pichu said, holding up a yo-yo, and a ball.

"Ok, to the gummi ship!" Matt said.

They left the room, and entered the big storage space. They weaved through rows and towers of boxes, and they had just gotten to the ship, when there was an explosion way above.

"Don't they know when enough is enough!?!?" Fox roared.

"Nope." Mat said. "That's why you TEACH them when enough is enough!"

"Oooh…I'm gonna love this, then." Link said.

"Let's do it!" Paul said.

"Poyo!"

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"…A hatch is opening, sir!" A soldier said.

"They know we're here already?" The current captain asked.

"Duh, we know you're here!" The speaker warbled suddenly. It was Matt's voice. "You have five seconds to clear the premises, or we'll SMASH you!"

"Poyo!"

To display their determination, the Gummi ship flew up from the hatch, and tons of lightning coursed over it, creating an intimidating fireworks show.

Then the ship turned to the left slightly, and shot one of the robot driven planes down.

"Return, or face our wrath!" Matt cried.

"Fire." The captain said carelessly. "They're just a bunch of idiots."

Then, the Gummi ship flew towards the mass of planes.

Instantly, the GUN units opened fire, and the whole sky exploded into a war zone.

Inside the ship, Matt was the captain, and Fox was the Co-captain.

The cockpit was a circular room, with a clear dome overhead. The floor was a shiny, sparkly white, and since there were only three chairs, Everybody sat in the back of the room, with the piles of supplies so far.

"We have tons of enemies on our right!" Fox cried.

Matt grunted, and turned the ship, so the mass of ships came into view. Red blasts of flame erupted from the front of the ship at the speed of a machine gun. The fireballs tore through the machines, making them explode brilliantly.

"Barrel Roll!" Link yelled.

The ship rolled, and everybody and everything un-attached to the floor flew about the room.

"POYOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

BOOM BOOOOOOOOM BOOOOM BOOOOOOOM BOOM

"AUUUUUUUUUUGHHH!!!!!!!"

The ship rolled through the air, flipped about, somersaulted over explosions, and danced through fire, all the while returning fire.

GUN units fell from the sky like flies, hitting the ground like meteors at night.

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"MAAAAAAAAAAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!"

BEUM PBT POW BOOM!!!

The gummi ship took a few tiny hits, but soon an ominous wailing was heard behind them.

Kirby looked out the rear, and his eyes grew so huge they consumed his whole face. His eyes went wide, and his pupils shrank to the size of peas.

"POYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Kirby screamed, frantically pointing out the window.

Everybody looked back, and started screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

The gigantic missile chased after the ship, like cats after catnip!

"Evasive maneuvers!" Matt screamed.

He flipped the ship over the torpedo, which still chased the ship.

"The cannons can shoot backwards!" Paul said.

"There's no button for that!" Fox yelled.

"What!?!? But-"

"This must be a different ship than what you used last time!" Fox said.

"I'm going up!" Matt said.

"WHAAAAAAAT!?!?!" Everybody screamed.

"We don't have working cannons, so mine'll have to do!" Matt said.

"I'll help you!" Fox said. "I can use my blaster!"

"Link and I will drive, then!" Paul said.

"No!" Matt yelled. "I have the autopilot set to go straight! It's escape or bust!"

"What about our base stuff!?!?" Ness yelled.

"Forget it!" Matt said. He and Fox stepped up to the portal, which sent them up to the top of the machine. Him and Fox appeared at the wings, which Matt magnetized with a lightning shot from his gun.

Everybody in the ship prayed, while Fox and Matt aimed.

BOOM BOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Everybody was blown to their feet, and there were a few yelps of shock, but the gigantic ball of flame in the sky behind them signified the end of the threat.

Matt and Fox were back in the ship, and they were getting closer and closer to the outer field.

Before the controls could be re-taken, the speaker crackled.

"You're not escaping if it's going to cost me my promotion!" The captain of the GUN forces yelled.

They looked out back, and as they watched, a huge laser flared across the sky, and struck the side of their ship.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Everybody yelled.

The left wing separated from the ship, which started spinning out of control.

They blasted out of the outer shield. The bubble looked like a moon above the atmosphere of Ivalice, and the huge planet spread out below like a vast sheet of clouds.

"OH MY…" Paul gasped.

"FREEEEEEEEEEEEE FAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLL!!!!" Ness screamed.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The ship hurtled to the planet, as flightless as a stone.

They fell faster, and faster, while everything in the ship drifted about, weightless. They punched through the upper atmosphere, and clouds shot past them like bullets. The ship rattled gently at first, but it started to shake like a giant was throwing it back and forth.

Parts of the gummi ship flew off, stripping the ship bare as it was enveloped in flames.

Matt finally fought his way to the steering wheel, and he managed to stop the mad flipping about. The ship slowly righted itself, and he leveled it with the ground, which was coming up fast.

"Up…UP, you stupid-!" Matt yelled.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!

The ship skidded across the sand, digging a deep trench as it skidded.

Matt's head flew forwards the second they hit the ground, and he was knocked unconscious when his head hit the wheel.

The ship, once again out of control, slowly pivoted on its bottom as it skidded, then it rolled across the desert, bashing everybody inside against the walls.

The other wing snapped off on the first roll, and as it went along, it slowly came to a rest, scattering debris across its whole trail.

Inside the ship, everybody conscious groaned as they stood up.

"My…LEG!" Paul yelled.

"Pichu…" Pichu, who was unharmed but dizzy, tottered about on her tiny feet as she waddled around.

"Poyo…" Kirby sighed, swirly eyed. He was laying on his head up against a wall.

"Ha ha…that was fun. Let's do it again!" Ness said.

"No!" Everybody yelled.

"Hey…" Fox said. "Matt, you ok?"

No answer.

Fox ran over to Matt, and checked his pulse. He was fine, just unconscious.

"Whew, what a scare." Fox said. "I almost lost all my fur!"

"Ha ha, that'd be funny to see." Link smirked.

"Hey!"

"Well…Now what do we do?" Paul asked. "We escaped."

"But then we showed them how unprepared we were." Matt moaned as he regained consciousness. "They'll be after us like fat guys after a taco stand!"

"What should we do, then?" Ness asked.

"We ought to find out where we are, then repair the ship." Matt said. "We're stuck until we do."

"First, we get ourselves fixed up." Link said. "We're useless as is."

"I agree with Link." Fox said. "We need to get ourselves healed first."

"Ok, then." Matt said. "…Down the Road of Recovery with us!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**That's it! Ha ha ha!**

**WHERE are they now, you ask? YOU can find out next chapter. As for what happened to Crazy Hand, you'll have to find out some other time… Sorry!**

**Anyways, expect another update today, or tomorrow! **

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	5. The Outskirt Stand

**Ha ha…by the title, some of you may know where they are, now.**

**Now, I thank thee, all that have reviewed! Time to start, then!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

A few days later…

Where the gummi ship once lay, was a big mound of sand.

The ship was hidden under the sand, which was put there by the smashers to hide the ship. The ship could be accessed by pushing aside a rock blocking off the main door.

Inside, the smashers were preparing themselves for exploration.

Ness had his computer put in his backpack, and everybody else had their equipment ready, and at hand.

There wasn't a broken bone among them. Matt's medicinal knowledge led to quick and hasty recovery, and they all were as fit as a fiddle.

"I've been looking around, and stuff." Ness said. "I also used my computer to look up some stuff, and I think we're in the Orre region."

"What does that mean?" Link asked.

"…Excuse me for a brief lecture." Ness apologized. "The Orre region, is one of the few regions occupied by pokemon. This all rocky-desert region is full of mining towns, oasis cities, and this region also features the world's first tower Coliseum. It's HUGE."

"What else?" Link asked, suspicious.

"This region is full of pokemon trainers, and, just by meeting eyes with them, most of them are going to want to battle you." Ness said.

"I don't HAVE any pokemon!" Fox cried.

"Catch some." Ness said.

"How!?"

"Pokeballs, ya dolt." Ness said, as he tossed one at Fox and smacked him at the forehead.

It opened up, and there was a red flash. The ball closed and fell to the floor.

Fox was missing!

The ball rattled about on the floor, and in another red flash, Fox stood where the ball was. The ball flew back to Ness' hand, and he caught it.

"What're you trying to do?" Fox yelled.

"THAT…is how you catch a pokemon." Ness said.

"What're we going to do about Kirby and Pichu? Won't somebody try to catch them?" Paul asked.

"PYO!!!!!!!!!!!"

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!"

"…Because WE will catch them!" Ness said, snapping his fingers.

"Poyo, PYO!!" Kirby said, waggling his pudgy arms, as if he were saying, "OH NO YOU DON'T!"

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A bit later, Link and Fox each had a pokeball on their belts. Kirby and Pichu were nowhere to be seen.

"Man, this is fun!" Link said. "I wish I had a pokeball for my younger self: that'd be funny!"

"Don't go overboard." Fox warned, all the while smiling madly.

Paul was in the background, using the laptop without anybody seeing.

"What about me and Paul?" Matt asked.

"YOU…can stay here!" Ness laughed. "Kidding. You can borrow some of mine."

"That won't be necessary…for me, at least." Paul said suddenly.

"Hey! Where'd you get that from?" Ness asked accusingly, pointing at Paul's belt. There was a pokeball.

"You aren't the only one." Paul said.

"You mean…"

"Duh, I have pokemon too!"

"Oh…that makes things simpler." Ness said. "I see that you only have two."

"My best ones, and my favorites." Paul said. "And only."

"What do I get?" Matt asked.

"I know just the thing!" Ness said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"…Beldum?" Matt asked. He opened up the ball, and a blue metallic pokemon appeared.

It was shaped like a lower arm, with the flat end, and an eye where the elbow would be.

The underside, the flat end, had three white spikes, and the eye was embedded in a steel ball the size of a baseball. The eye was red and black. It levitated over the ground, and looked inquisitively into its new master's face.

"Hello." Matt said.

Click.

"You happy with me?" Matt asked it.

Click Click!

"…I'll take that as a yes." Matt said.

"Then we're all set." Link said. "Where to first?"

"Um…Maybe the Outskirt Stand." Ness said. "We're closer to it than anything else. We can but some supplies while we're there."

"What about money then?" Link asked.

"Master hand gave us one gift." Ness said. "Those smash coins we had transformed: I think it's based on the region."

"…I never thought of that." Link said. "That's handy."

"Yeah, yeah." Ness said. "Let's get going already."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

After a nasty hour's walk, the team managed to find the Outskirt Stand.

It was an old train engine, with the smokestack, and the wheels and everything, only it was so old and rusty, it was red. The wheels were taken off, and lay about with other junk. The inside was hollowed out mostly, to make a cozy little restaurant, and the usual goods shop for the needy trainer.

"…Finally." Fox said. "I thought I was going to bake!"

"…Eww…I can smell you, too…" Paul pinched his own nose as he spoke.

"Cut it out. You'd smell too, if you were furry." Fox retorted.

"What do they serve here?" Link asked.

"Uh…dunno." Ness said. "Food, maybe?"

"Battles too, pal."

"Huh?" Everybody turned around, and a random trainer stood behind them.

"You wanna battle?" Link asked.

"Yeah! You in?"

"Get ready for a spanking!" Link said.

Everybody cleared back, and the two battlers stepped backwards about twenty feet, then tossed their pokeballs way into the air, then they opened.

Two pokeballs flew out on the opponent's end, and Link had only one.

"Hey, you new?"

"Yeah." Link said.

"…Heh heh…In Orre, we do DOUBLE battles!" The trainer laughed harshly. "I've got this in the bag!"

When Kirby appeared, the man goggled at him. "Huh? Where'd you get that pokemon!?!?"

"Uh…somewhere." Link said haltingly.

"Grr…" The man growled. He had out a Linoone, and a Zigzaggoon. (Go play a pokemon game…sheesh.)

"Ok, Kirby, Inhale!" Link said.

Kirby charged at the small raccoon pokemon, and inhaled deeply, which sucked the pokemon in!

"Hey! That's my pokemon!" The man sobbed. "Don't eat him! Linoone, quick attack!"

The ferret like pokemon growled its approval, and before Kirby could spit the pokemon out, it tackled him at high speed and forced the other pokemon out, which then kicked Kirby in the face.

"Kirby, Final cutter!"

"POY YOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Kirby screamed. He drew his blade and flew into the air, then sent out a shockwave which KO'd the opponent's pokemon in a hit.

"…Dude…Whatever pokemon that is, it's SWEEEEET." The man sighed as he returned his pokemon to their pokeballs.

"Uh, it's a Poyo." Link said. Kirby scowled even fiercer. "I nicknamed him Kirby, though. Don't go messing with Poyos from now on, ok?"

"I won't." The man said earnestly.

The man walked off and got on his motorcycle. After he left, Ness spoke up.

"You handled that pretty nicely, Link, for your first fight." Ness said. "…But I guess I'll have to lend you guys a few more pokemon, in case something happens and we have to fight."

"I'm set to go, so no problem here!" Paul said. "But, let's get our supplies, and maybe some filling to go with that…I'm kinda empty."

"Hey, feeding Kirby's going to be a problem." Fox said. "What do we do?"

"We just let him eat with us like usual." Ness said.

"Won't anybody get suspicious?" Matt asked.

"Heck no!" Ness assured them. "People do stuff with their pokemon all the time! It's not unusual."

"Well, what about me, then?" Luigi asked. "All I have is the Bayleef you lent me."

"You can keep her." Ness said. "I think she'll be happier with you anyways…Maybe you could team up with Link or Fox for the moment, while I think of a good pokemon for you to use."

"I would appreciate that."

"Hey, we're going to need a good place to train." Paul said, "for both us AND our pokemon."

"I think I can build a hologram device." Matt said. "But I'll need some good parts. Then there's the fact we have a gummi ship to repair!"

"Things only get more difficult every moment." Link sighed exasperatedly.

"You'll be sore with life quick if you keep an outlook like that." Fox said.

"Sorry, I should be used to this kind of stuff by now." Link said.

"For starters, let's ask the owner if they sell Gummi ship parts." Matt suggested.

They walked up the ramp that led into the building, which was rather small inside.

To the right were a few rows of tables, about three. Two of them were occupied, and the one in the back was empty. The shop counter at the front of the building, to the left upon entering, had a few barstools , one of which was being used. Behind the counter was a big, muscular man in a sleeveless white shirt, and jeans. He was really intimidating looking.

"Excuse me, sir." Matt said. The man looked at them, and thankfully, you could see he wasn't a brainless brawler.

"Ah, yes, what can I do for you today?" He asked.

"I know you may not have the parts, but see, we have a gummi ship, which became sorta widely used lately, and-"

"Oh, one of those customizable ships?" The man asked knowingly. "Yeah, if you need a few parts, I can sell them to you. They don't come cheap, though…"

"…How much?" Matt asked.

The man leaned over and whispered into Mat's ear. Matt promptly fell to the floor in a dead faint.

"Oops."

"If we don't have enough money then, we'll have to enter a coliseum battle to earn some then." Ness said.

"Phenac city is a good place to start." the shop owner suggested helpfully. "Anyhow, weren't you boys going to stay for lunch or something?"

"Yeah." Ness said. "Um, we'll order from our table, if that's ok." Ness said. "Also, do you have any vehicles around here we could buy?"

"Um…Let's see…" The man said, stroking his chin.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Later, Matt was driving a jeep, and the smashers were crammed in it. It was a handy machine: much better by far than going it on foot!

They had already eaten lunch, but by now, they were running desperately low on money.

THAT was going to be solved by them all entering a big tournament being held in Phenac city. If they all placed high enough, they'd be able to buy a whole FLEET of gummi ships!

"…Well, what do you guys think?" Matt asked out of the blue.

"What do you mean?" Link asked.

"…Being on the run, goofing about like merchants on holiday…" Matt sighed.

"…I think I'd have to say it's exciting." Paul said. "We have SOMETHING to do, a mystery to solve, a job to accomplish."

"We can't go home, not with people after our blood." Fox said. "We have to find the problem, and FIX it!"

"…Something's wrong." Link said. "I know you guys know, and I'm being Captain Obvious again, but really, what happened to trigger these recent events?"

"…That is what I seek to unveil." Matt said determinedly.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

They finally arrived at Phenac city, the fountain of life in Orre.

There were channels that ran throughout the whole city, carrying life giving water about while making the city glimmer like a beautiful sapphire set on a crown of gold.

The pride of Phenac city, Phenac coliseum, was one of the most beautiful works of architecture in Orre. On the outside, it was a dome, but at the very top, there was a hole so that water could be pumped up to the top, and wash down the sides in a shower of blue. The inside of the building was huge! It was as big as a very large basketball court, and along the walls there were balconies for spectators to watch from. Where there were no balconies, there were waterfalls, which poured into the moat which surrounded the battle platform. The building was very cool and refreshing, and was a great place to battle in, except if you trained only fire or rock pokemon!

"So, THIS is Phenac stadium!" Matt said. "It's beautiful."

"I already signed us up for the tournament." Ness said. "We're in the clear!"

"So, it's only two pokemon each, then?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, rather odd rules, but who's complaining?"

"Makes me wish Jigglypuff was here." Link sighed.

"Why?" Fox asked.

Link mimed throwing a pokeball, and a flash.

"She'd be too busy snogging Kirby." Matt said.

"Oh, dang, you're right." Link laughed sheepishly.

There was a loud gong noise. The smashers were currently walking into the lobby area, where the receptionist was.

"That'd be the first match." Ness said. He had a button on his chest, which flashed. "Makes me glad they handed these out! It makes it lots easier!"

"Yeah." Matt said. "I hope the pokemon you gave us do good."

"They're as good as the trainer." Ness said. "I think you'll be fine. You better watch the battle, or I'll give ya one!"

Ness bolted from the room, and entered one of the doors leading directly into the arena.

"…I suppose we better watch him, _or else._" Fox said. "I'm not in the mood to be concussed with a baseball bat."

They laughed nervously, then went to find a box in the stadium to sit in.

Unfortunately, something unexpected by everybody but one was going to happen.

The person lurking in the shadows laughed darkly, then walked off and disappeared from sight.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

…**Whatever you do, DON'T flame me.**

**Forgive me if you dislike what I'm doing for a first arc, but hey, just watch. It'll get to a part when the Smashers will be doing the fighting, but ya gotta wait.**

**besides, seeing as the eight in the team are all on their own, they can use all the help they can get! Pokemon are pretty handy, you'll all see.**

**Now…**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	6. Phenac City! Tourney

…**Oh? Ok, I'm glad everybody liked that chapter, then!**

**AND! One of my old reviewers has come back: Luigirules512!**

**I thank EVERYBODY that reviewed last chapter! If you liked that, then you'll like this chapter!**

**Oh, yes…Luigirules, before ya get discouraged, Luigi does something important this chapter. I hope you, and everybody else, will enjoy.**

**Ok, then. Let's start!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The team finally found a somewhat empty balcony, quite close to the ceiling.

Below, Ness and his opponent were getting into position, waiting for the whistle.

THWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!

The two combatants shared a few quick words, then four pokeballs soared into the air.

On the so-far nameless man's side, there was a Lotad, and a Quagsire.

On Ness' side, an Espeon, and a Ralts appeared.

"Oh, he uses Psychic pokemon. Fitting." Paul said. "Ha ha…that quy won't know what hit him."

"From what I understand, Beldum is Psychic too?" Matt asked.

"Yep. Wait till he gets stronger. Even YOU might be afraid of him!"

"But he's so cute, and little!" Matt said.

"Trust me, he'll be one AWESOME terror." Paul insisted.

THWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Dang, Ness won already?" Link wondered.

"Yeah, he decimated the opponent." Fox said. "Both his Pokemon used Psychic at once, and the energy based shockwaves KO'd the pokemon before they knew what hit them."

"…Ok, none of us are up until the next match." Matt said, looking at a roster. "Let's just watch the fireworks till then.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

THWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!

"Next up, is…Fox!" Matt said.

"Me?" Fox asked.

"Yeah. Go whoop some tushies."

"You scare me sometimes." Fox laughed, before leaving the booth.

Ness finally popped into the booth, just as Fox walked out.

"Good luck, Fox!" Ness said.

"Thank you."

Fox ran down the hallway, and Ness turned his attention to his other partners.

"Good fight, Ness. Really quick, though." Link said.

"He he, that's my specialty!" Ness said.

"They're starting." Luigi said.

Fox, and a man in a black cloak walked onto the field, and stood facing each other.

The whistle blew, then they released their pokemon.

Fox had Pichu, who looked REALLY confused, and then he had a Growlithe.

The opponent had an Electabuzz, and a Xatu.

"Hey! Just now…" Luigi said. "…That Pokemon did something strange!"

"What?" Matt asked. "It looks perfectly normal."

"…I swear it had a cloud of darkness around it!" Luigi cried.

"HUH!?!?!" Ness nearly screamed. "I-If that's…True…Oh man!" Ness bolted from the room.

"What's he on about?" Matt said.

"I think we better follow him." Link said.

They bolted out of the booth, but they couldn't catch up to Ness, he had too much of a headstart!

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Pichu! Use Thunder on Xatu!" Fox said. Pichu shrugged helplessly, then unleashed a huge bolt of lightning from her body.

It smashed into the Xatu's chest, full on, and a loud clap of thunder blasted through the room. The Xatu weakly stood back up: It was almost unconscious!

"Xatu! It's time!" The man ordered.

The bird pokemon nodded, then it charged up a huge amount of energy, and threw its wings wide open. A devastating gale of black energy blew across the arena, taking Fox's pokemon out in a single hit. The black tornado continued on towards Fox, who used Fox Illusion to shoot out of the way.

"Who are you, and what have you done to your pokemon!?!?" Fox yelled as he rescued his pokemon.

"That, is for you to fear." The man laughed. "I think I'll get a pretty penny for your head!"

Fox drew out his blaster, faster than the blink of an eye, and shot the man in the shoulder.

The stadium erupted into screams, and chaos.

Fox tackled his distracted opponent, and they rolled about on the ground for a few seconds before Fox kicked him off, into the water.

The Xatu went berserk, and blasted Fox with a huge wall of Psychic energy. Fox yelled as he flew into one of the walls and sank into the water where the trainer pulled him under, and began beating the living daylights out of him.

Then, Ness bolted into the room, followed by the other smashers.

"It's a shadow pokemon!" Ness exclaimed. "Quick, we have to catch it!"

"I thought you said trainer pokemon can't be stolen!" Link said, thinking back on a recent lecture of Ness'.

"…" Matt looked around wildly, then, his eyes fell on Luigi.

"…Uh, what are you doing?" Luigi asked nervously.

Matt tackled him to the ground, and pulled the vacuum off Luigi's back: he had it on since he escaped from the mansion.

Luigi protested loudly, but Matt yanked the vacuum of his back, and pulled a bunch of tools out of his pockets, and started working on it.

Ness already had his pokemon out, and he was engaging the Xatu, which was incredibly powerful. His Ralts was KO'd at the first gust of black wind, but the Espeon fought against it, and attacked with a fierce blast of psychic energy.

Paul and Link pitched in, and released their pokemon, AHEM, pokemon and KIRBY.

Paul's pokemon were a Poliwhirl, and a Magneton. Link, in addition to the furious Kirby, had a Golem.

"Poliwhirl! Rain Dance! Magneton, Thunder!" Paul ordered quickly. His pokemon complied, and in a matter of seconds a raging thunderstorm crashed throughout the stadium. The Xatu flew about, but was struck dead center by a gigantic bolt of lightning. Golem rushed over and grabbed it by the wings. Poliwhirl ran up and dealt a super powerful punch to its chest, then Espeon blasted it with Psychic.

Xatu blew all the pokemon back with a huge burst of psychic energy, then took to the sky, flapping weakly.

"Ha ha! YOU'RE GOING DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Matt cried. He was wearing the vacuum, which was just the same looking. There was a pokeball in the end, which was glowing like a fireball.

"FIRE!!!!!!!!" Matt yelled.

There was a cannon-like boom as the pokeball flew through the air, then it slammed into the Xatu, and opened up. There was a flash of energy like a giant hand grabbing the pokemon, then the ball fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Huh!!?!?!? You caught it!?!?" The man in the water screamed.

"And, I got you." Fox said, holding his gun to his head.

"Grr…If I let myself get caught, Cherub will kill me!" The man cried. He raised his hands into the air, and disappeared in a blinding flash.

"Dang. I almost had him." Fox sighed, punching the water. "…Hey, it's nice and cool here, if you want to take a swim!"

"We should be getting out of here." Link said. "Police, or anybody like that should be here any moment, and I DON'T want to be here when they come!"

"Who's Cherub?" Ness wondered out-loud.

"Come ON!" Paul said, grabbing him by the hand.

They all bolted out of the stadium, and as they passed the front counter, the receptionist called to them.

"Hey!"

"What?" Luigi asked, since he was already lagging behind.

"Since you're the only contestants left, the rules say the winnings go to you."

"ME!?!?!?" Luigi yelled.

"Yes." The lady said. "Here, and come again when you feel the need to battle."

"I-I-I will!" Luigi stuttered, nearly mad with giddiness. He bolted from the building, carrying the biggest bag of money ever.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

In the jeep…

"I still can't believe we got to have ALL the money!" Fox exclaimed.

"Yeah, lucky, Huh?" Luigi asked happily, holding the bag protectively.

"We have enough to repair the gummi ship, at least." Matt said. "Then some extra, which I think should be spent on handy things, like-"

"Hologram machines." Paul said. "Instead of making one, why don't we take the one from the mansion?"

"That would be smart, except the place is swarming with those dang GUN people." Link sighed. "That makes me wonder…how is everyone else doing now?"

"It's a big world, ya know." Ness said. "They could be anywhere, but if you think about it, I'm sure they'd be in hiding."

"…We're there." Matt said.

They were back at the Outskirt stand, but it was quiet.

They stepped out of the jeep, and walked into the building. To their surprise, the shop was completely empty.

With stunned eyes, Ness looked about the room, and then he saw something tacked to the doorway

"Hey, Guys!?!? GUYS!?!?" Ness yelled. They came running over, and they all looked at the sign on the door.

"Outskirt Stand:

OUT OF BUSINESS"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Hmm, whatcha think?**

**You get to see nect chapter, which will be soon, because I'm going to update again TODAY!**

**BWAR HAR HAR!!!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	7. GUN

**Ok! Quickstart!**

**YAYZ! THANK YOU, ALL WHO REVIEWED!**

**I WANNA START STORY, SO START I SHALL.**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"I'm tellin' ya, I don't know." The man said.

"Well, for your own health, you better know." The G.U.N. soldier said.

The two were sitting in a blank room, with a table and two chairs.

The man from the outskirt stand was chained to a chair, fairly flustered, and the soldier leaned back in his chair, drumming the table impatiently with his fingers.

"So…Knowing they were outlaws, YOU helped them regardless." The soldier finally said.

The shop owner exploded.

"I KNEW Full well what they were!" He yelled. "I know FULL well what you are! TYRANNICAL, SELF-POSSESED-"

"That's enough." The soldier said calmly he took the folder he had in hand, and walked over to the shop owner and slapped him across the face with it, which was really heavy. "Henry, Henry, Henry…Tsk tsk tsk. What have we told you about saying such things?"

Henry sat silent, with his eyes closed. He refused to answer.

"When I am talking to you…" The soldier slapped him with the folder again. "You talk to ME…SLAP…Understand? SLAP"

No answer.

"Throw him in his cell again, and give him minimal rations!" The soldier yelled into his walkie talkie.

Two GUN soldiers walked in, and led Henry out, who still had the blank face.

"Bring me Zelda." The soldier ordered.

The two men leading Henry nodded, and walked away

A bit later, Zelda was led in, and chained to the seat.

"Ah, so, you are Zelda, yes?" The soldier smiled leeringly as the two soldiers walked out and locked the door.

Zelda merely looked at him, as if he were an interesting bug. There was an odd, silver ring around her forehead and the back of her head.

"I SAID, you are Zelda?" The soldier asked.

"…If you have to ask me, then, indeed, you are blind." Zelda replied mildly.

The soldier, who's nerves were short fused, grabbed his folder, and whacked Zelda across the face brutally. The edge of the folder left a gash on her face.

"TELL ME, do you know anything about these eight men?" The soldier asked loudly.

He pressed a button on the table, and eight holographic pictures appeared, One of Link, Matt, Paul, Fox, Ness, Kirby, Luigi, and Pichu.

"…Technically, one's a child, one's not even human, and the little one is a female." Zelda said, in a tone a little bit more serious than her other tone, but still mocking.

SLAP!

Zelda's head was knocked aside again, but this time by the soldier's hand.

"DO…YOU…KNOW…ANYTHING…ABOUT THESE REBELS?" He asked her, as if she were deaf and stupid.

"I know plenty." Zelda said. "Men shouldn't ever hit women. Ever. Tell me, do you have any morals, or even a conscience?"

"I'M asking the questions here!" The soldier screamed.

"Then tell me, what's THIS thing on my head?" Zelda asked dangerously.

"THAT, is made of mysticium." The soldier said. "It nullifies magic, and I think it looks beautiful on you!"

"Is that so?" Zelda asked, looking up at the blue-silvery band on her head.

There was an echoing SNAP, and clicking.

The band snapped clean off Zelda's head, and the two halves fell to the floor, before laying still.

The silence in the room was deafening. Zelda stared at the soldier, who stared at the band, which lay there like a dead rat.

"I think that's something else…" Zelda said, looking down at it out of the corner of her eye. "And…know what you are?"

Outside the room, there was no noise. The room was soundproofed.

Inside, Zelda's eyes flashed, and glowed with green, eerie light. The bands holding her wrists together snapped, and the chains holding her to the chair exploded into powder.

She stood up, and all the light in the room focused into her body.

The soldier screamed, and ran to the door which was locked. He beat on it, but nobody heard him.

Zelda destroyed the walkie talkie with a huge blast of fire, then, she aimed her palm at the soldier.

A blast of light shaped like the Triforce shot from the back of her hand, and expanded. It slammed into the man, and sealed him in place, in the open middle part of the Triforce.

Zelda moved her hands about, wreathing streaks of blue light together into a pulsating ball of energy. She then drew her hand back, and socked the ball, which soared forwards and slammed into the man.

The space around the Triforce distorted and sucked inwards, then exploded into spears of distorted space.

The light returned, in time for the last remaining shreds of the man's uniform to drift to the ground.

"A woman scorned is a dangerous woman indeed." Zelda said to the empty air. She walked over to the door, which was decimated in the explosion.

"…I know who you were." Zelda smiled. "You were that man my friends whooped just a day ago."

With that, Zelda walked down the hall, in plain sight of the soldier in the HQ.

The sirens blared wildly, and soldiers drew their guns and fired at Zelda, who ignored it all, protected by Nayru's love.

Any soldier stupid enough to fire was pierced by his own bullet. Zelda continued on towards the prisoner compound, where she had been imprisoned moments before.

There, she was going to rescue all her friends, and escape.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back at the outskirt stand…

"…I hope we find the shop owner again, someday." Paul sighed, carrying a huge box of electronics.

"We'll pay him back, sure." Matt said. "But right now, the important thing is getting out of here."

"You say there's room in the hold for the jeep?" Link asked, carrying a clipboard.

"Yeah, plenty room!" Ness said.

"And the holograph machine?"

"I have the spot marked out in tape, in the cockpit." Ness affirmed.

"Ok, we have everything we need." Matt said. "We can take this last load to the Gummi ship, and finish up once and for all."

"…You know, I can't help but be suspicious about the sudden closing of this store." Link said. "…Just HOURS ago, it was up and running, just fine. I can't shake the feeling something bad happened."

"…I think we best be going soon." Matt said. "I think you're right, from the moment I saw the sign."

It was about twelve hours since they last were at the shop, it took a long while to drive across the desert, in a jeep, no less!

The four smashers packed up their supplies in the jeep, and drove back to the gummi ship, which was a good hour's drive from the Outskirt stand.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was in the absolute DEAD of the night when the team got back to the Gummi ship.

Inside, Fox worked with Pichu and Kirby to patch up the cockpit, and repair a few parts of the ship while they waited for the others to get back with the rest of the parts.

In the sand covered cockpit, which was dark except for two lights, Fox worked with the controls, and Pichu charged up the power reserves.

Pichu was hooked up to two wires, and she was steadily charging the ship's batteries with power while she watched Fox patch up the controls. Kirby scouted about the super hard clear dome, looking for any cracks, which there were none of yet.

"…Just a bit more, Pichu, and I'll be finished." Fox assured the little pokemon.

"Piii…" Pichu sighed, looking at the little meter in her paws. It showed how much power was in the batteries, and it was only halfway charged.

"POYYYYYYYYYooooooooooo." Kirby called out.

"Good work, Kirby!" fox said, finally getting up and stretching his arms.

Just then, there was some beeping as the hatch opened up, in a tiny tunnel below the cockpit. There was a sound of it re-sealing, and then the trapdoor on the floor opened up, and Link and everybody else came in.

"Ok, we have EVERYTHING we need." Matt said. "I have some plans I wrote up for the ship: I'll be able to compact this ship's working components, and create extra space for us, and extra armoring, which we don't have."

"What do ya mean, extra room for us?" Fox asked.

"What I mean, is, space enough to store our sleeping stuff, like rugs and such, and also have room for Ness, and Kirby and Pichu to hang out."

"Oh! Like a Rec room?" Ness asked.

"Sort of." Matt said. "Once I have this finished, you'll have about as much space as a bed for you to own, and do whatever with, like your own room."

"Ah…"

"Also, we have enough extra metal to make more chairs up here in the cockpit, that way, we won't bounce around if we get in another fight, which I'm certain will happen."

"Then…Yawn…We have the hologram machine." Fox said sleepily.

"Yes! Exactly. It'll be just like the one at the mansion, and we'll be able to get in good practice if we have to."

"If we make it like the one at the mansion…" Link started saying. "…We can create extra rooms and such to store stuff in, maybe even give friends a 'home'!"

"Ya know what?" Matt asked.

"What?"

"I think this is going to be fun." Matt smiled.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Expect more updating yet again.**

**This chapter took awhile, ONLY because I slacked! I coulda had it out an hour or two earlier if I worked good and hard on it.**

**Anyways, ya KNOW you want another update, right?**

**Then, LET ME GET BACK TO WORK!**

**Lol! Joking! Really, though, if I am to keep it up, I gotta work fast and hard.**

**SO…See ya later!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	8. Area 51

**I am back! **

**I thank all for reviews, and plead that they let me make short notes!**

**Oh, yeah, nobody worry about me getting in a slump! I'm having the time of my life! Not really:D But still, I'm having lots of fun, and there's no stopping me when I'm having fun!**

**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!**

**THEY ADDED IKE TO SSBB!!!! YAY YA YA YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA**

**PARTY!PARTY!PARTY!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The next day…

"Hey, look at this!" Ness called out. He was sitting in the cockpit, as was everyone else.

The gummi ship glided across the desert, aimlessly, with Fox steering it, and Matt leaning back in his chair.

There were eight chairs, two in the front, four behind those chairs and to the sides, and then two chairs in the rear. The hologram machine was in the middle of the room, hooked up to Ness' computer, and a few power cables. The machine was turned off and so far unused, and the supplies, like rugs and such, were rolled up behind the rear chairs, which were close to the wall, and had about as much room as a large trunk behind them. The space behind the chairs was enclosed, so there was no fear of the stuff flying everywhere.

Kirby sat next to Ness, who was sitting in the right chair, and Kirby was in the left.

"Look at what?" Luigi asked, looking back. He was right in front of Ness, and Link was sitting to his right. Paul was sitting on the far left, and Pichu was next to him in a tiny, customized chair especially for her.

"Um, I'm on one of those internet news stations." Ness explained. "Guess what happened!?!?"

"What?" Link asked.

"There was a breakout at the G.U.N. HQ!" Ness exclaimed. "It says Zelda escaped, and freed a man named Henry, who used to run the Outskirt stand!"

"Hey! You mean GUN soldiers arrested him and closed the shop?" Paul asked.

"Yeah. Just hours after we left." Ness said. "It also says she helped free Solid Snake, the feared mercenary assassin, and Dr. Mario. There are three more smashers that were there, other than the ones mentioned already, and they too were rescued by Zelda and Snake."

"Zelda and SNAKE?" Link said. "I never thought I'd hear the day when they'd work together."

"I'm sure he's nice and bruised up." Ness assured him. "Although, they have yet to find Snake's partner, Otacon."

"I thought he worked alone." Paul said.

"He does. He's one of those mission control sort of people." Ness said. "Anyways, the smashers that escaped crashed the GUN network, so their robots are rampaging, and any soldiers on duty in other worlds are without orders."

"Wow, talk about brave." Luigi said in an awed voice.

"If there's ever been a time to cause havoc, now would be the time." Ness said.

"That goes for lawless organizations as well." Matt said. "And by the looks of it, we have one right here in Orre that needs handling, one that uses Shadow pokemon."

"You know, after that first incident, five years ago…" Ness said. "They never saw their savior again."

"Which one?" Fox asked.

"Seth, the former member of Team Snagem." Ness said, typing away on his computer. "About a year ago, the organization was resurrected, but they failed once again, this time, they were taken down by a young trainer by the name of Oscar. He too disappeared."

"What do we do about the Xatu then?" Matt asked. "If we're going to save it, how do we do so?"

"There's a relic, in a forest near Agate village, which honors Celebi." Ness explained. "Celebi has the ability to purify any shadowed pokemon, but it hasn't been seen in centuries, supposedly. The relic there, though, still can purify pokemon."

"So, if we just catch the pokemon as we come across them, it'll be ok?" Fox asked.

"…We need help from somebody, like Seth." Ness sighed. "…We have other stuff we have to do! Remember this, everybody?"

He held up the tattered black diary, and looked at everybody.

"Remember, we still have to find out about the black monsters plaguing the world. What are they?"

"…You said now would be a good time to cause trouble, right?" Matt asked.

"Yeah."

"…Does it say anything about any government outposts?" Matt asked, sounding mischievous.

"Yes, it does, as a matter of fact!" Ness said. "It says Henry, Zelda, and the others were imprisoned at Area 51, in southern Orre."

"Perfect." Matt grinned all the eviler. "What say we go and kick some butt, while they're running about with their heads cut off?"

"AYE AYE!" Everybody cheered.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Later, the Gummi ship was hidden behind a large sand dune, close to the perimeter of the alleged Area 51, a secure area of GUN's for prisoners, and for secret development, not to mention loads of treasure.

Usually unbelievably heavily guarded, it was just the perfect opportunity to invade! The rouge machines prowled about, blasting any living thing that got close, even the soldiers.

One floated above the smashers, and sensed them below. The last thing it sensed before it crashed to the sandy desert, was a laser piercing its head, courtesy of Fox.

"Ok, when everyone's ready." Link said.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three!"

The smashers ran from behind the dune, all eight in a group. There was no need to keep Kirby and Pichu in a pokeball, so they were released. To say in the least, Kirby was relieved.

They blasted through the enemy robots, unstoppable. Matt fired with his gun, Fox fired with HIS gun, Link and Paul swung their swords to deflect frontal attacks, and Ness, Luigi, Pichu, and Kirby did whatever was needed, ranging from ranged to up close attacks.

Paul blew the main gate down with a concussive burst of wind, then they charged into the base, unimpeded.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Inside, it was dark: obviously the power was out.

Paul's sword glowed softly, creating enough light to light up a small room. Pichu's body crackled with extra power, which also created a decent amount of light.

"Hey! Somebody's there!" a random soldier cried.

"KICK BUTT TIME!" Matt whooped.

The smashers fell upon the soldiers, who were quickly reduced to unconscious, drooling soldiers.

"Alright, since they know we're here, and we know that THEY suck major big ostrich eggs, I think it's safe for us to spread out, loot the place, and rescue anybody else still here." Matt said.

"Good plan." Link said. "Let's just split up as we see fit, when we see it fit."

"I agree." Ness said.

"Well!" Paul said, looking excited. "If that's all, SEE YA!"

He blew down the hallway like a whirlwind, and quickly was lost from sight.

"…Wonder why he's in such a hurry." Fox said.

"He probably suffers from treasure fever." Link said.

"What's THAT?" Matt asked.

"It's when the person thinks of all the possible treasures they could find, and the thought overwhelms them, and somehow they turn into a treasure magnet…"

"Meaning…?"

"He's going to strike it rich, big time."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BOOM!

BIF!

BAM!

BOOM!

Paul downed soldiers with ease, blasting them down with fierce gales, and the flat of his sword when necessary.

He screeched to a stop in front of a sealed door.

THAT particular door didn't stand a chance.

There was a big explosion, and Paul walked through the decimated doorway, into a room full of…Lots of loot.

He grabbed a few gems, and a nice gun. In the corner was a cabinet, full of papers. Paul walked over to it, then opened it up and ruffled through a few papers. His eyes widened in surprise, then, he pocketed the papers, left the room, and sealed it shut with a huge block of ice.

Then he bolted down the hallway, in search of more loot.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Matt ducked under a laser, spun around another one, then jumped into the air above a GUN robot, which kept firing. He spiked it down towards the ground, where it exploded, and a red glow appeared. He landed close to the junk, and grabbed the glow, which was a Chaos Drive.

It was a glass tube, with two metal connecters on the ends, and in the middle was a red crystal suspended in glowing red liquid, which might have been plasma.

Matt smiled a satisfied smile, then pocketed the tube. He then smashed a few more robots, and stole the drives inside them too. He had a sizeable collection of them in his pockets, by the time he retreated from the hallway.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The rest of the team ran about, destroying the base further, and causing the inhabiting soldiers a decent amount of grief.

After a bit, they managed to regroup, all except for Paul.

"Where do you think he ended up this time?" Link asked.

"Most likely he went for the main vault." Matt said. "I was thinking of saving that for last, though. Who knows what's guarding it, though."

"Um…I think the vault's this way." Ness said.

They ran down the hallway, where they only hoped they could find Paul.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Paul ran about, like a wild hurricane, before coming across one final room.

It had a huge door, which still posed no hindrance.

Paul blew it clean off the hinges, then walked into the room, looking about.

There was an odd assortment of equipment and metal laying about, all of which looked like possible unfinished experiments. There was also a few neat looking weapons, but what stood out the MOST, was the object sitting on the pedestal situated in the middle of the room.

Paul was drawn to it like a magnet, then he picked it up and felt it around.

"It's…a Chaos Emerald." Paul said to himself. It was the red emerald, and it shone with a fiery brilliance.

"That's property of GUN, that's what it is!" A voice cried.

Paul whirled around, and behind him was a large, two legged machine painted mostly green, with a red and yellow cockpit. There was a GUN pilot in the cockpit, and the front of the ship, which had a machine laser gun, was aimed at Paul's head.

"Sorry, but I think I'll be taking this." Paul said.

The GUN pilot fired at Paul, who shot out of the way and left behind a mini twister, which deflected the lasers about the room.

"This is Big-foot to headquarters." The pilot said. "I have the thief in range."

"Theif?!? The emerald was ours first! How you got it, I don't know!" Paul said. "Now, take this!"

Paul summoned up a huge spurt of flames on his sword, which began to waver like a flame itself.

"Fiery Serpent!" Paul cried. The flames concentrated on the tip of his sword, then exploded from the end like a cannon, all the while stretching into a pillar of flame. It slithered through the air, and chased after the pilot, who flew away from it. The flames caught up to him, then exploded fiercely, scorching the ship badly.

The sword re-solidified, in time for Paul to deflect a few lasers fired as the ship passed by. The pilot did a few hit-and-runs, then landed and opened up two hatches on the top of the legs, which extended above the cockpit.

Missiles flew about, and homed in on Paul. Iridescence froze over, and paul slammed the ground with the tip.

"Freeze Break!"

The ground erupted into a mountain of ice, which took most of the missiles. A few got around it, and they were quickly blown apart by wind blades.

Paul jumped out from behind the mound, and shot another wind blade, which cut the gas-line for the left set of thrusters.

"Mayday! Big-foot is down!" The pilot cried, as he crashed. The machine rumbled to a stop, and he stayed inside the cockpit, for fear of getting attacked.

"…I'll let you off today." Paul said, up close to the cockpit. "You're safe, because I'm no killer to begin with."

With that, Paul walked away, and left the room.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Outside the room, Paul ran into the rest of the team.

"…What's that!?" Matt asked, eager for confirmation.

"This is the red chaos emerald." Paul said.

"Ah…somehow, I figured they'd have one here." Matt said, stroking his chin. "…Let's take a look inside this room here: I think we might find more!"

They walked back in, and everybody split up to look at the goods inside.

Link was looking through some of the junk, when he found a little bit of armor. It was lightweight, and highly reflective. There were only greaves to cover his shins, two knee protectors, two elbow protectors, a chest plate, and gauntlets.

"…Hmm…" Link hummed. He fingered it, flipped it about, and looked over every inch of it, before putting it on. It fit him perfectly, thankfully.

Ness looked through a few cabinets, and found some papers for inventions that looked interesting. He also gathered a few bits and gadgets, and pocketed it all.

Matt found a few parts that looked like gummi ship parts, so he gathered them up. They were all beam cannons of some sort, which was handy.

Luigi was digging about, when his hand touched a deathly cold piece of metal. He yelped in surprise, and drew his hand back. He pushed some of the junk aside, and came face to face with a light blue medal, embossed with the image of an ice crystal.

"Hey, Guys!" Luigi called out. "Look at this!"

Quickly he was surrounded by his friends.

"…It's the ice power medal from when I won that mansion!" Luigi cried. "This'll come in handy, but I wish I knew why it was here…"

"…Hey, wait a sec. Turn it around." Fox said.

Luigi flipped it over, and on the back, there were some scratches.

"I thought it felt odd." Luigi commented.

"It's writing." Matt said. "…I can't read it, though. It's some other language."

"Maybe we can decipher it?" Ness said. "It'll take some time, of course."

"…Yeah, before we worry about that, I found some plans for a chaos emerald powered cannon." Matt said seriously. "I looked at the blueprints, and noticed a few faults. They have the parts here, and I think that, if we want to increase our odds of surviving, we should take the cannon and finish it ourselves. I'll need some help carrying the stuff."

"I'll help." Link said.

"We might want to get out of here soon." Paul said. "We're running way too many risks hanging around."

"Too late." Fox moaned, as robots flooded into the room.

"…Drat!" Paul said. "Guys, run when I tell you to. I'm going to do something _drastic._"

"One…"

"Two…"

"Freeze! Put your hands up!"

"THREE!!! Forbidden art: Black Hole Blade!" Paul cried.

Time, space, and light distorted, and swirled , down to Paul's blade, which was now an ominous black. Paul ran right towards the army of robots, and there was a huge amount of crunching as robots crumbled and were absorbed into the sword, fueling its black hunger.

"I'll lead the way, but stay a good ways behind me!" Paul cried, swinging the sword like mad. "This is going to use all my magic, and knock me out! As long as I fuel the spell, I'll be fine! Some of you, go in the back and guard Link and Matt! Go!"

Paul ran right down the hallway, sucking the robots into his sword, which also caused the walls to bend in towards him. Everybody ran as fast as they could, avoiding enemy attacks and counter-attacking when necessary.

After a tense minute, they escaped from the base, with a flood of robots chasing them.

Paul quickly ran to the back of the group, and the distortion swelled incredibly, sucking the army into unknown blackness.

The distortion imploded, then, exploded outwards, creating an incredibly intense shockwave that knocked everybody flat over. Paul was thrown to the sand, and he was instantly knocked out by the combination of the shockwave, and being thrown into the sand. Luigi and Fox dragged him back to the ship, while everybody else loaded the loot on board the ship.

After pulling him in, the hatch sealed shut, and the Gummi ship shot into the night.

The looting was successful. The GUN base was trashed, and the soldiers were thrown into disorder and confusion that would last for weeks.

Those few weeks were all the time the smashers had, before GUN would be after them again, more terrible than before.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**So much for dramatic endings.**

**We'll see what happens in the next installment, so hang in there, ok people?**

**I hope you liked it! Tell me what ya think, and see ya next time! Take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	9. Agate Village

**OOOOOOOOOk…sorry I haven't been around of late! I've been busy remodeling my house with my dad, AND THEN I also got a PS2!**

**Kingdom Hearts rocks, by the way. I finally got my hands on the first game, but when I have enough money I'm going to buy KH2 too!**

**Anyways, I apologize for not updating recently.**

**I'm NOT in a slump! I promise!**

**I'm kinda tired from all the grunt work, but I'll live.**

**Now, let's start!**

**Ah, yes! Thank you all so much for the reviews! It's good to know you're enjoying this so far.**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"…Ugh…"

"Wakey WAKEY!" Ness exclaimed.

"WHA!" Paul jumped out of the bed, and bonked his head on the low ceiling. "Dang, I need to watch for that."

"Yah…" Ness said absent-mindedly. "Look, Matt wants to set up base somewhere, and he's thinking of returning to smash mansion."

"That's absurd." Paul sighed. "Well, maybe we'll have a chance to kick more GUN butt. You never know."

"BEFORE we do that, He wants to update the ship as much as possible. He's thinking of

attaching the gummi block we found, that fire powered laser."

"The Chaos cannon?" Paul asked.

"The very one. Matt's going to have to set up a whole new wiring system, which will take a few days at best. While he's doing that…"

"We'll work on our other mission, right?" Paul asked.

"Yeah. We're outside Agate village now, the home of the Relic." Ness said. "For a fact, we know Seth's girlfriend, Anca, used to live here. Her grandparents may be able to help us out."

"Oh! Eagun and Belua, right?"

"Yeah!"

"I just got an idea." Paul smiled. "Here, we'll probably need a few people to stay behind to watch the ship with Matt. We need to see who's willing to volunteer."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A bit later, Paul, Ness, Pichu, and Kirby walked across a wooden bridge leading to Agate village, the home of the Relic forest.

It was a place where older trainers that had retired could live out the rest of their days in peace with their pokemon.

At the very top of the town, was Eagun's house, built into a massive tree trunk.

The smashers walked up the various slopes, passing curious people as they passed. Once at the top, they knocked on the door, and waited.

There was a moment of silence, then, the door creaked open and an old, sage-like man stepped out. He had flowing blue robes, and long grey hair that fell down to his waist, whish was accompanied by an equally long silvery beard.

"…Ah, what may I do for you younger folks?" He asked kindly. "We don't get visitors too often! Come in…"

Paul and Ness faced each other and shrugged, then the four walked in after the old trainer.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Now…"What was it that you wanted?" Eagun asked, when everybody was seated.

"…Do you know the whereabouts of Seth, or Anca?" Ness asked.

Eagun sighed, and hung his head, and looked at them with wistful eyes. Depression was etched on his face, obvious for the first time upon meeting them.

"Seth…or Anca…I haven't heard from them in years." Eagun sighed. "For the first year, I tried contacting them with Seth's PDA number, but for the longest time, they never answered. I gave up, and, I'm afraid I threw away the paper with his number, and forgotten the number itself."

"I'm sorry to hear that…" Paul said. "…I'm sure you'll see them again, someday."

"…Maybe. I'm getting too old, though…My times running out." Eagun said.

"…There was one last thing I wanted to ask you." Paul said. "Pichu, if you will…"

Pichu appeared, and sat on the top of the chair.

"Our friend, Pichu here, needs to Learn Volt Tackle. If I'm not mistaken, you know how to teach Pikachu this move, right?"

"Ah!" Eagun said. "I think I know who you people are now."

"Hmm?"

"The Super Smash Brothers! Or some of them, at least."

"We were scattered when GUN attacked the Mansion." Ness said.

"Those fools…" Eagun growled. "…Just what do they hope to accomplish? Just the other day…"

"What happened?" Paul asked.

"Senilor, one of the much older people around here." Eagun explained. "He knows anything you could possibly want to know about Celebi. Anyways, the other day, he claimed he saw a space ship fall from the moon, and crash in the desert. He was taken into custody just a day later…"

"By GUN, right?" Paul asked.

"Yes. I'm with you all all the way. Now, about teaching Pichu Volt Tackle…" Eagun said thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "…I do believe I have a tome upstairs. Let me go and get it. I'll be right back."

Eagun got up from the couch he was sitting on, and made his way to the staircase nearby. There was some creaking as he went up the stairs, then, the sound of crashing.

Paul jumped up, as did everybody else.

There was another crash, and everybody jumped back as the ceiling caved in, with a figure holding an unconscious Eagun on his shoulder.

"Ezel!" Paul snarled fiercely.

On the pile of rubble was a figure identical to Paul, only he had on black robes, light brown hair, and green eyes.

"Ya know, I heard this old fool talking about helping you guys, so I figured I'd turn him in!" Ezel laughed.

"GET a Life!" Paul scoffed.

"That's good advice." Ezel said. "Too bad neither of us are following it! See ya!"

He jumped out the window in the back of the house, and quickly disappeared from sight. Paul dashed to the front door, and kept going so fast he blew the door clean off its hinges. Ness, Pichu, and Kirby ran out after him.

Ezel was flying across the ground, his legs nearly blurs. Paul chased after him, with his sword crackling fiercely.

"Volt Chaser!" Paul cried. His pumped his anger into his sword, which gave off a loud crack, then emitted a thick, jagged bolt of lightning that zigzagged. Ezel looked back, then waved his hand. The bolt skipped off a wall of wind, then ricocheted into the air before exploding loudly.

"Haste!" Paul said. Red roman numerals spun around his body, then his whole body became a blur. He shot at Ezel, who was at last taken by surprise.

Paul tackled him to the ground, and managed to free Eagun from his grasp. Paul set him aside, and half a second later rolled across the ground, beating the snot out of his Nobody.

"Hey, just returning the favor!" Paul said, before planting a powerful sucker punch on Ezel's face. Ezel kicked him off into the air, then rolled backwards and summoned his emerald spear. Paul barely landed on his toes, before Ezel stabbed at him with the spear. He jumped out of the way, and swung his blade at Ezel's face, who blocked with the spear's handle. He parried the swipe, then bashed the handle into Paul's chest, winding him.

Ezel spun around and thrust his palm into Paul's chest, and blew him back with a huge wall of sound waves. Paul regained his balance in midair by back flipping, and landing on his feet again. Ezel sent a few wind blades at Paul. Paul used an Aero spell to erect a wind bubble, and the wind spikes harmlessly absorbed into it.

"Alright, play rough, then!" Paul growled. "Shock burst!"

The ball of wind compressed into a ring around his body, then shot outwards, a gigantic buzz saw made of wind. Ezel gasped, and ducked under the shockwave before he was decapitated. Paul rushed in, with his blade brimming with fiery energy. Ezel brought his spear up, and the two weapons clashed in a windy explosion. Both the fighters were knocked backwards.

Ness and the others caught up, outnumbering Ezel easily.

"Ah…It would appear I'm outnumbered." Ezel said mockingly. "Microburst!"

Paul didn't have the chance to warn anybody.

A huge, black cloud formed overhead, then a HUGE burst of wind shot downwards, like a tornado in reverse. The wind was so strong, it almost seemed visible, like water.

The windstorm was shaped like a cylinder full to bursting, with curved sides. The bottom was swirling mess of debris, and smashers that were caught Ezel stood in the middle, laughing maniacally.

Paul used Gravity on himself, and made himself much heavier than usual. With some difficulty, he stood up, and slowly walked his way over to his opponent. Ezel noticed him, and fired a wind spike at him. Paul knocked it aside with an equally powerful burst of wind, then the two fighters engaged in close combat.

Mystical steel rang against emerald like chimes, as Paul and Ezel took turns attacking and parrying swings in a deadly dance of blades.

Ezel thrust his weapon at Paul, who spun to the side and knocked the spear downwards with his sword. He spun around again, and swung up from beneath the lance, sending it way into the air above Ezel's head. Paul slashed at Ezel's chest, but the Nobody jumped back and flipped into the air, neatly catching his weapon and avoiding the attack. Paul sent a wind cutter flying at him, but he neatly canceled it out with a wind spike, and the two charged at each other again.

"CLOUD NINE!" Ezel roared.

"CONCUSSION!" Paul cried.

The two fighters collided, and a huge ripple of sound blasted outwards. Ezel, and a few shadowy copies of himself flew backwards, and Paul fell to the ground, with a few pierce wounds shining like a sun setting.

Ezel fell back to the ground, after traveling up into the air in a long, graceful arc. He hit the ground with a dull thud, and lay unmoving.

Paul sighed deeply, then fell on his back with his eyes closed.

The winds faded finally, which gave the other smashers the chance to stand up and observe the damage. They saw Paul and Ezel both lying on the sandy, grassy ground, both as still as stone.

Ness ran up to Paul and felt his pulse.

"…He'll be ok." Ness said, to the relief of Pichu and Kirby.

"Ugh!"

The three little smashers looked up, to see Ezel standing clutching his chest, and grimacing painfully.

"Ok, so maybe you stopped me this time." Ezel hissed.

"We'll stop you…every time…ANY time." Paul said.

"Yeah, tell Reeky, Spoofy, Quack, and Sorry that I'm back!" Ezel laughed cruelly. "…I'm not stopping until I get my heart!"

"Good one." Paul said, rolling his eyes. "Next you'll be wanting my devilishly good looks. Go suck an ostrich egg!"

"Grr…I'll be back!" Ezel yelled.

"Before I forget, that's 'Riku, Goofy, Donald, and SORA to you, you sorry loser!"

"Ha ha…Let's see how you like playing with my new friends, then." Ezel smirked. "You know me: I never work alone! Adieu, Thunder Rat, Small, Marshmallow, and Braniac!"

Ezel stepped back, before fading away in a column of wind.

"…Sometimes, I really hate myself." Paul smiled ruefully.

"Dang, I'm glad I don't have a nobody!" Ness remarked. "He'd probably be stupid, for all I know."

"Or Smart…Ow!" Paul hissed, clutching his wounds. "Speaking of smarting, I'd like to go back to my normal appearance. Swiss cheese doesn't suit me. Mind helping me out?"

"Oh! Sorry, sorry…" Ness apologized. "Ok, one…"

"Two…" Paul said.

"Three!"

"Curaga!"

"PSI Heal Gamma!"

Green light enveloped Paul's body, and ethereal golden bells about the size of a fist rang above Paul's head, and the wounds closed up in the blink of an eye.

"Well, we'd better get going." Paul said matter-of-factly. "Our cover's surely blown by now."

"What about Eagun?" Ness asked.

"…We'll have to take him along with us." Paul sighed. "He'll be caught and punished by GUN, which is definitely going to be all our fault. He'll be safer with us."

WHOOSH!

"Who said those GUN bums were after you?" A melodious feminine voice asked.

The smashers whirled around, and came face to face with a pink haired woman in a black cloak.

"Organization XIII, I presume?' Paul asked.

"I have NO idea what you're talking about." The woman said, her face twisted into a curious frown. "I came for your snag machine. And you know what happens if you don't cooperate."

She was just at five feet high, with a slim figure, which was hidden by the black suit and billowing black robes. She had blue eyes, and soft features. Her pink hair was down to her waist, but tied into two braids, which rested on top of her shoulders and hung down her front.

You wouldn't know she was an enemy, because she looked so innocent. It was mostly her eyes that gave her the innocent look, but they were subject to change, as the others saw for themselves.

Her eyes were now shining with a mischievous glint, not a good sign.

With a flourish, two pokeballs appeared in her hands, and she jumped back before letting her pokemon loose. After throwing out the first two pokeballs, she spun around like a fan, and let loose four more pokeballs.

"Huh!?!?" Ness yelped.

"Ah…forgot to tell you that." The girl smiled evilly. "I play dirty! The name's Cherub!"

As she said that, the pokeballs fell to the ground, and released a Meganium, Roselia, Tropius, Cherrim, Tangrowth, and a Bellossom.

Ness was about to release his own pokemon, but Paul stopped him.

"Huh?"

"We'll do better if we just do this ourselves." Paul explained.

"Ya know, pokemon trainers aren't supposed to do the fighting!" Cherub said.

"As I rarely say, if one person's going to break the rules, why don't we do the same?" Paul asked with a smirk.

"Right, then!" Cherub said. "Attack!"

At once, her pokemon sprung into action, which slightly surprised the smashers. Meganium and Tangrowth sprouted long vines, and lashed out at Paul, Ness, Kirby, and Pichu. They flipped backwards, and split to the sides when Bellossom and Cherrim rushed forwards, wreathed in a whirlwind of sharp petals.

"AH!" Ness yelped. He backed away from Roselia, which had poked him in the leg with a poisonous thorn. Paul blasted him out of the way with a burst of wind, making a long vine just miss him.

Kirby looked up when a shadow covered him, then screamed and moved out of the way as Tropius fell from the sky, nearly squishing him. Kirby jumped back at Tropius, then hurtled towards it, enveloped in flames. Tropius blocked with one of its leafy wings, which got singed by the hot flames. It flapped its wings and flew into the air. The gust blew Kirby backwards, into Tangrowth, which grabbed him with one of its viney arms. It created a bunch of vines, then flogged the Star warrior black and blue.

"Fiery Serpent!"

A stream of flame smashed into Tangrowh, lighting it on fire. It screeched and dropped Kirby before running away.

Paul had no time to relish his short victory, because Roselia threw a leaf at him like a shuriken. He rolled out of the way, but it looped around and came back at him. He raised his sword to block it, but Pichu vaporized it with an accurate bolt of lightning.

Ness got back up after being blown over, then He saw Roselia not to far away, throwing homing leaves at Paul and Pichu.

"PK Fire!" Ness said. He aimed both his index fingers at the little pokemon, and a bolt of lightning shot from his fingers. At the word 'fire', the Roselia turned around, and screamed. it tried running away, but the bolt hit it, and it erupted into a pillar of flame. There was a long, high scream, and when the fire faded, a blackened, KO'd Roselia lay on the ground.

"Let's kick it up a notch, then." Cherub said lightly. She drew two daggers, and rushed at Ness. Ness yelped, and ducked under the rapid stab that would have gutted his throat. Paul was there in a flash, to block the next stab.

"Go and wreak ruin on her pokemon for me, will ya?" Paul asked over his shoulder.

"Uh…sure." Ness said. He ran away as hostilities erupted behind him.

"Tangrowth!" Cherub cried as she blocked Paul's brutal slashes. "Get the old man! We'll be dead if we come back without him!"

The ball of vines that was Tangrowth grunted its approval, then made a few of its vines snake over to Eagun's unconscious body, then it grabbed him and stored him inside its body.

"Ew!" Ness said. Meganium, and the other pokemon gathered around Tangrowth, as if to protect it and their prize.

"Pokemon trained for evil." Ness sighed. "I hate criminals!"

"Poyo!" Kirby said. He and Pichu walked up next to Ness, and prepared for the next stage.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You're a fool if you think you can win against us." Cherub said, stabbing at Paul with her left dagger.

"I get that a lot." Paul remarked.

"ARGH!!!!! You can't take anything seriously, can you!?!?!"

"I've learned to be serious about things that I should be serious about." Paul said. "I think I'm being serious enough."

"Take that!"

Cherub rushed at him so fast she made a blur. Paul almost avoided the attack, but his arm got nicked badly.

"…" He looked down at his arm, which was bleeding freely.

"NOW what do you think of me? Think I'm dangerous enough to be take seriously?" Cherub asked angrily.

"Cure." Paul said. Green light enveloped him, and made his wound heal up all the way. "…I think I've lost enough blood for one day." Paul said. He was starting to look pale.

"Ha ha! Ezel did a good number on you, didn't he?" Cherub asked.

"Ok, now you've asked for it!" Paul yelled. "No one messes with my nerves!"

"I see a good bit of Ezel in you, Paul. Lots of unbridled anger." Cherub said.

"ANYONE that knows me well, knows NOT to get on my last nerve…" Paul whispered dangerously.

"Ooh, I'm scared."

Paul inhaled deeply, then rushed at Cherub at blinding speed. She raised her daggers to block the attack, but Paul's sword powderized her daggers with a metallic ring, and sunk into her shoulder.

"AH!" Cherub backed away and looked at her shoulder, which was now covered by a huge gash.

"Let's see you heal that." Paul said. "Power Surge!"

Lightning swirled around his blade, then he thrust it into the air. A few bolts struck the blade, then he stabbed the ground, and sent out a huge shockwave of lightning. Cherub jumped into the air, and threw a few daggers she seemed to draw from nowhere. She threw them at Paul, who just drew his sword from the ground. He parried the daggers, which flew about like arrows pinging off a shield.

Cherub landed and rushed at Paul, who dodge rolled out of the way. She spun around and tossed a few more daggers before rushing again. Paul rolled backwards, missing the daggers barely. When he stood back up, steel rang against steel again.

He slashed downwards at Cherub's neck, but she knocked the sword off course slightly and stabbed with her other dagger. Paul deflected the blade with his own, then knocked Cherub back with the hilt of his sword. He completed the swing, and used the momentum from the attack to fling his sword at Cherub.

_Sora's going to kill me for ripping off his Strike Raid._ Paul thought.

Cherub gasped and jumped away from the charged projectile, which exploded and re-appeared in Paul's hand.

"Two can play at this." Cherub said. "Just keep in mind, you're making me do this! Overgrowth!"

Tons of vines shot up from the ground and snared Paul, strapping his arms to his sides and hoisting him into the air.

"Lie to me all you like!" Paul said. "I know you're involved with Organization WHATEVER it is, now!"

"Heart-breaker!" Cherub cried. Her dagger flashed an evil shade of purple, and she jumped up at Paul, who was unable to avoid!

"Self-Destruct!" Paul yelled. His body glowed with all his magical power, then there was a huge explosion that vaporized the plants. He dropped to the ground, and Cherub's dagger attack missed him by an inch. He jumped back into the air and spun around with his sword out, slashing her across the back. She grunted in pain, but managed to land on her feet and avoid another slash.

"Maybe I AM involved with an organization!" Cherub said, throwing another round of daggers. "What's it to you?"

"Pheh, you want Sora's Keyblade still?" Paul scoffed as he blocked the blades. "Like I'd let you do that. He's safe, wherever he is."

"You aren't." Cherub said.

"I'm used to that being the case." Paul said. "It's my job to protect my friends, and that's what I'm going to do! You're not stopping me, or anybody else today!"

"You sicken me." Cherub said. "What good are friends? They're going to let you down, some time or another."

"That's when you forgive them." Paul said. "If you can't forgive anybody, why even try? I know you nobodies, you don't really have any feelings! You can't even begin to pretend to know what I feel like, or anybody else for that matter!"

"…!!!!!!! Take that back!"

"Then take this!" Paul said. "Light Spear."

Paul swung his sword vertically upwards, which sent out a jet of light that erupted from the ground. The pillar slammed into Cherub and threw her into the air. She landed back in the middle of the pillar, which carried her above the ground, all the while scorching her with intense light.

Paul swung his sword back, with his left side facing her and the pillar. He then thrust his sword forwards, and rocketed into her.

SHING! 

The sword passed right through her, and jutted out her back. Her body was enveloped in a sphere of blue lightning, which hummed. Time seemed to run to a stop, before there was a huge flash and a burst of energy.

Paul was thrown back, and he skidded across the sandy grass before coming to a stop. He got up and looked around, but there was no trace left of her, other than a piece of paper sitting about a yard in front of him.

He picked it up, and read it.

I'll be back.

I underestimated you, but I assure you, it shan't happen again.

You'll regret messing with Organization Neo.

Expect me to visit you again! Untill then, Adieu!

Cherub

"…Organization…Neo?" Paul wondered out loud.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ness, Kirby, and Pichu charged at the five pokemon, who positioned themselves for battle.

Kirby flew into Bellossom, once again afire. Bellossom dodged him barely, then threw a ball of nature energy at him. He turned around and inhaled it, then spit it back as a star.

Bellossom moved to avoid it, but it curved just enough, and hit it full on. It was blown back into Tangrowth, who put it back on the ground upright.

There was a sudden increase in sunlight, then, five glows of energy from where the grass pokemon were.

"Uh oh!" Ness yelped.

First, Bellossom released a beam of pure sunlight, then Tangrowth attacked. Each of the grass pokemon let loose a stream of sunlight right after the other, so that they were continually scorching the ground around the smashers. Kirby screamed, but one of the beams hit him and sent him flying into Ness and Pichu.

They rolled about for a tiny bit, before finally coming to a rest.

"Dang, they're good." Ness said, looking at the pokemon as they scorched everything nearby, causing a ring of flame to surround them.

"Poyo!" Kirby said. "Poy yo op po!"

"Let's do this, then, Kirby and Pichu!" Ness said. "If we work together, we can do it!"

"Pi chu!" Pichu said.

"Let's go!" Ness said.

They got up, and ran at the pokemon again, who once again targeted them with dangerous sun lasers.

The first beam missed Ness and co. as they jumped to the side. Ness used PSI Magnet to absorb the next beam, and heal himself and Kirby and Pichu, while also powering them all up slightly.

"PSI FREEZE!" Ness yelled. A huge, chilly gust erupted from his hands, and put the fires out while damaging the grass pokemon badly. Pichu unleashed a fully charged Skull Bash, and slammed into Tropius. Tropius convulsed as lightning traveled through it, then it moved to swing Pichu off. It spun around, and Tangrowth aimed to smash Pichu with a big arm, but Pichu jumped off. Instead, it hit Tropius in the neck, hard enough to KO it.

Pichu slammed into Bellossom, and the two tiny pokemon bounced about, beating each other senseless.

Ness and Kirby ran in while the pokemon were distracted, and when they finally noticed Ness and Kirby, it was a little late.

Kirby drew his curved sickle, and slashed hard with it, sending a wind blade at Tangrowth. It dodged it, and shot a vine at Kirby. Kirby shot another wind blade, which cut the arm off. Tangrowth merely stretched out its arm, which regrew.

Kirby closed in again, and hacked away furiously at Tangrowth, which regrew its body and fought back with vine whips. Kirby got hit across the face and knocked backwards, then Tangrowth picked up a bit of earth, and threw it at him. The clump of sand bonked him on the head, stunning him.

Bellossom finally got the upper hand, and was strangling Pichu, when Ness came and hit it with his home run bat. He shot another bolt of lightning at it, which made it catch on fire. Before long, it was KO'd.

Meganium roared angrily, then stomped on the ground. Tons of huge roots shot up out of the ground in a line, towards Pichu and Ness. Tangrowth fired TWO rays of sunlight at the duo, making them dance like madmen to avoid the lethal roots and the sun rays.

Kirby dropped out of the air in front of them, in the form of a stone. He squashed a few of the roots popping out, and also blocked the ray of light.

"POYO!" Kirby yelled.

Ness nodded, then threw him at Meganium using psychic powers. Kirby hurtled towards the dinosaur/ plant pokemon, and hit it on the head, dazing it. Ness blasted it with a chilled gust of wind, then Pichu followed up with a wicked bolt of lightning.

Meganium fell over on its side, with its eyes all swirly.

Tangrowth was the last pokemon standing, and it looked angry.

It shot a bunch of vines at the trio, and caught them. It held them up in the air, and started charging up a huge beam of light, but Ness froze its arm solid, then shattered it with his bat. He landed, then whacked it in the face super hard.

There was a loud boom, and Ness stood panting, and Tangrowth was standing in front of him, motionless, with a huge dent in its face.

Suddenly, its eyes rolled up, and it collapsed on the ground, a pile of vines. Eagun appeared, still unconscious, as the vines slithered off him and came to a rest on the ground.

"C'mon! We have to go now!" Paul said as he ran up. "…Huh?"

He looked at Eagun, who he noticed was holding an old tome.

"I didn't know he managed to get the book before Ezel got him." Ness whistled.

"We're lucky." Paul said. "Let's get away before our luck runs out."

"What about Cherub?" Ness asked.

"Poyo!"

"She won't be bothering us for awhile." Paul said. "Anyways, we've been out here too long already! Let's get back to the ship, and get out of here!"

Ness nodded, then ran back towards Agate Village, with Kirby and Pichu behind him.

Paul waited a moment, then turned towards Eagun and summoned up a small whirlwind. It picked Eagun up off the ground, then Paul ran after his friends, with Eagun flying behind him riding on the wind.

_Organization Neo? I wonder…_

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**That's it for today! All I can say, is forgive me for taking so long to update!**

**I thank all of you that read and reviewed this story so far. It encourages me tons, but I'm sure ya don't need me to keep saying that:D**

**Anyways, yet again I leave you with a few mysteries. I'll try not to update so slowly, but again that's not a promise. I've already beaten KH, and even went so far as to get the Ultima Weapon! That's dedication.**

**It's awesome looking. I'd hate to get hit by it. Honestly. :O**

**Now, it's time to say goodby for now! I'll see you all next time! Again, thank you for reading!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**(I made Cherub up. Just letting ya know. Also, I guess I made up Organization Neo. Expect to see a few old friends, as well as new ones. You'll be seeing lots more stuff in this story than the last, so enjoy things while they're simple!**

**BWA HA HA!!!)**


	10. Black Clouds boil on the Horizon

**OK! First off, I owe everybody an apology. Life caught up with me this time around, and I guarantee updating won't be so glorious as it once was.**

**School's to blame, but I don't want to be an ignorant bum, either.**

**So, School is important to me, although I hate it to pieces. I'm going to get an education and do it right the FIRST time, so, after all my homework and stuff, I'll work some if I feel in the mood, which, since I'm typing and all, is proof enough that I am!**

**Anyways, time to get to the chapter. Please, don't hold the slowness against me…Pretty pwease?**

**I LOVE the reviews you people been givin' me! I'm also sorry if me not replying to them has hurt your feelings, but please understand, I don't usually respond anyways.**

**I'll make sure to spin out an update at least every week or so, so keep your fingers crossed, peeps!**

**Let's start!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Cherub, that was a most amusing, yet pitiful attempt." Saix laughed cruelly. He and Cherub were in a silvery room, which was bare. The glimmer of the room made one's eyes water.

Saix, one of the main members of the former Organization XIII, was now one of the top members of Organization Neo.

He really looked…mean. His yellow eyes glared at anything he looked at, and he had a gigantic, somewhat X shaped scar across the bridge of his nose.

"…" Cherub only glared back at Saix.

"…Ha ha…don't even pretend you're angry." Saix said. "You know us Nobodies have no hearts, and, therefore, no feelings. You don't fool me."

"Yeah? Who died and gave you the right to pick on us?"

"Ah! Ezel." Saix said. "You've been way to free. I think I shall report you to Superior if you decide to stray from orders again."

"Yeah? So what! I can take Xemnas any time!" Ezel boasted.

"…For one without a heart, you are pitifully ignorant of your situation, and your status." Saix said. "As it is, both of you are in deep trouble, for you failed in the simple task which you have been given. Even Palutena's nobody could have done better!"

"You mean that anti angel we've seen about?" Cherub asked. "She's a creep."

"It looks like Cherub here is scarred of the old pussy!" a taunting feminine vice mocked.

"Larxene. Just in time." Saix said. "I think these two need a lesson."

"Really?" Larxene asked, shocked.

"Really."

"Then, I shall do it with…:" She spun around, and in a flash, she held three golden, Nobody symbol shaped Kunai in between each of her knuckles. "With pleasure!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

_**The smashers…They seek to regroup, and overthrow the empire I have given to you…**_

It was an empty, sinister voice that echoed inside the GUN commander's head.

Usually a rather brash and impulsive man, but well-meaning, this time the commander had gone other the edge, thanks to the wicked jewel embedded in his brain.

"Of course." He said aloud.

_**They are weak, and in hiding. Like pests…if not eradicated the first time, they only come back stronger, and in GREATER numbers.**_

"What must I do, to obliterate the pests?"

_**They hide…But I see all. Follow my eye, as I show you all…We must destroy them!**_

"…Destroy…The Smashers…" The commander moaned.

He closed his eyes, then opened them.

What were once soft blue, and brown eyes, were both now flaming red.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Man, this thing is complicated!" Fox panted, wiping sweat from his forehead while working on some wiring in a big red gummi block. It was like pliable plastic, but after a while, it retained its shape very well.

Tons of the pieces could be stuck together, and they'd fuse to form a formidable wall of rubber, only it was super rubber.

It COULD be knocked apart, but that was hard to do. VERY hard.

"Sorry, I know my enhancements are a lot harder to do than the original blueprints, but those GUN soldiers really didn't know what the fudge they were doing." Matt replied absent mindedly, working on the other side of the rectangular block.

"I'm not complaining." Fox said, because, if this thing is as strong as you say, then nothing stands a chance against us!"

"Hey!" Luigi's voice called out from up above. "The team's comin' back, and MAN, do they look like trash!"

"Ya think they've been attacked?" Link asked.

"Nah, some bear went and hugged them." Matt said sarcastically.

"Don't joke about that." Fox shuddered.

"Oh, right." Matt said, remembering what had happened when he and Fox had been acting in Red Riding hood, only about a week before.

The four ran out of the ship, and down the ramp jutting into the desert. They were nearly blown down by the home-coming heroes, as they bolted into the ship.

"What the dickens!?!?" Fox yelped, extracting himself from the pile of heroes on the floor. "…And who the heck is the old guy? And why are you running like Hades is on your tail?"

"Thankfully, Hades ISN'T on our tail." Paul sighed. "If he was, we'd be toast. Look, we need to get out of here now." Paul said urgently.

"Why?" Link asked.

"I'd love to tell you, but if we fail to exist in five seconds, it isn't my fault!" Paul said. "Then, maybe I'm exaggerating…"

"Let's move it!" Matt yelled. Since everybody was inside the ship already, he slammed a button that closed and sealed the hatch, then ran up a staircase nearby that led to the cockpit. The team piled into the cockpit, and Matt seized the controls and started up the engine, just as a mechanical hum became noticeable.

"…What's that I hear?" Fox said. "I don't like it…"

"Look!" Link said, pointing at the radar.

There was a huge green blip, rapidly heading towards them.

There was a crash, and everybody looked up to see a gigantic GUN robot blow a hole through a sand dune as it charged at them.

It was built like one of the smaller, floating units that had a single camera and laser blaster that stuck from under it, but it was at least two hundred times the size of one, and it had a few extra cannons to go with it.

"Snap." Ness muttered.

Matt grabbed the controls, and soared into the air just as a massive laser blasted the sand where they were, and blew blobs of molten glass everywhere.

"Take over for me!" Matt said, getting up and dashing out of the cockpit before anybody could reply.

"Mine!" Link shouted, springing from his chair, and landing nicely in the pilot's seat.

"Link! NO!" Fox screamed, covering his eyes in fright.

Link leaned the steering wheel up, which made the ship plunge to the ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"Oh, I guess that makes it go down." Link muttered. He tilted the wheel down, which made the ship curve upwards and just miss the ground and another laser.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ness screamed, hanging onto his seat for dear life.

Fox's fingers danced across the control deck, inputting attack commands and such. The cannons on the ship replied with a boom, and shot a few lasers at the robot.

DING!

The lasers glanced off the robot's shiny exterior.

"DANG!" Fox said, pounding the buttons.

Link was busy driving the ship, with no clue as to how he was evading everything so easily. Currently, the ship was shooting off into the desert in a straight line, spinning like a drill. A laser hit the gummi ship, but the spinning made some of the laser reflect, only causing minimal damage.

"AAAH!" Everybody shouted. The ship bucked, and sent Ness shooting up into the air. He splatted on the windshield, then Link made the ship shoot into the sky again. The GUN robot pursued, and launched a volley of homing rockets after the ship.

Matt suddenly swung the hatch door open, and leaned out top take a bunch of well-aimed shots. The rockets exploded, missing the ship completely. Matt swung himself back in and closed the hatch, so that he could continue fixing up the cannon.

"Try this!" Paul said. He jumped forwards, and while he braced himself against Fox's chair with one arm, he typed with the other arm.

The cannons glowed for a moment, a bunch of flaming energy gathering up in the cannons. The cannons flashed and fired a huge, dual laser.

PING!

"…We know one thing…" Paul sighed. "…WE'RE SCREWED!"

He got back in his seat, and started screaming along with everybody else.

Link was being careless with the ship now.

First, it dove to the ground, then went up and turned left really hard, spinning out of control as it ascended. They shot way above the robot as it fired at them again, missing them because they were out of range.

Still screaming, Link twisted the wheel the other way, stopping the ship from spinning momentarily, only to go spinning the other way. The robot rose up in a vertical line, and spun around to aim its cannon directly at the gummi ship.

"IT'S DONE!" Matt cried triumphantly.

"YES!" Fox yelled. He punched Link on the arm, then threw him out of the seat and grabbed the controls. In a second, the ship was upright.

Paul dashed down the staircase, and helped Matt start installing the gummi cannon. The GUN robot was directly behind the Gummi ship, charging up one, final laser.

Matt grabbed the gummi block RIGHT in the back of the ship, and pulled it out, making a hole that showed the robot behind.

Paul handed Matt the cannon, and he shoved it into the hole. The cannon's sides melded with the rest of the ship around it, sealing it up. In the back of the cannon was a small control panel, and a gem-shaped slot.

"Here goes nothing…" Matt said. He grasped the Chaos emerald, and slammed it into the slot. The emerald lit up and bathed the room in red light.

Matt focused his energy into the emerald, then pressed the button.

"Brimstone Cannon, FIRE!" Matt yelled.

There was some flashing, and the engine behind them started groaning, before grinding to a halt.

"It's using too much power! We're going to crash!' Matt yelled.

Thinking quickly, Paul looked out the window, and saw the robot was about to fire. He summoned up all of his strength, and put his hand on the emerald.

"SELF- DESTRUCT!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The GUN robot was about to fire, when there was a flash from the Gummi ship, then a roaring sound as huge waves of fire erupted from the cannon in the back of the ship in circular waves. A huge ball of fire formed, then exploded from the cannon creating a sonicboom.

The gigantic ball of plasma soared towards the robot leaving behind a streak of plasma. It slammed into the GUN robot, and one split second later, a huge mushroom cloud erupted from the robot, blowing it apart in a huge, violent explosion.

The whole sky went dark as the tower of flame shot into the sky, and started spreading out like an umbrella.

"STEP ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!" Link screamed.

Without even bothering to agree, Fox floored the gas pedal, and urged the ship to go faster. They shot forwards, while the veil of fiery death above descended.

"Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon!" Fox muttered wildly.

WHOOSH!

The ship just barely cleared the umbrella of flames, just as it dropped behind the ship.

Everybody watched as the dome completely closed over the ground, dousing the land in flame.

There was an ominous humming as a single red ray of light shot upwards into the sky, then the ship was thrown about in a wild ocean of wind waves as multiple explosions erupted from the dome of flame, tons of mushrooms shooting up into the sky.

"Who here agrees that we shouldn't use this until we're absolutely sure we're screwed over?" Ness asked.

Everybody raised their hands.

"I…think we should call it Meltdown." Luigi squeaked, finally speaking. He was too scared to speak beforenow.

"That sounds cool, and it fits it just perfectly." Matt said. "..What WAS that you did to it, though, Paul!?!?"

"I gave it the push it needed to activate." Paul gasped, tired out. "That cannon drained my magic like a vacuum! I swear it was about to suck me dry…"

"…That's too dangerous." Matt said. "We can't risk the cannon killing anybody just to use it. We'll have to find another Chaos emerald to balance the energy flow out."

"Try the ice emerald." Ness said knowledgably. Ice and Fire cancel each other out. If we find it and use it, we'll be able to make the cannon five times as destructive!"

Paul looked backwards at the sea of molten sand behind the ship, then looked back at Ness, visibly more pale.

"I think I'll pass." Paul whispered.

Everybody burst into raucous laughter as Paul sat back down.

They felt like they could pull it off, Saving the world…

Maybe they WERE the right people for the job, after all!

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

_**It failed…it would seem.**_

"Yes…Pitiful human technology can't hope to compete with these…Devils." The commander said.

_**That is why…You must free me…Free me from my everlasting Seal…**_

_**Free me from the depths of the void…**_

"Free…Master." The commander moaned, his eyes flashing red again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Short notes, because long ones would spoil the atmosphere! HA!**

**There's something very dark behind everything.**

**YOU, my friends, must keep reading (When I update ******** ) if you wish to find out.**

**Thank you all for reading, and I'll see ya next time! I'll update within the week, so hang in there.**

**Thank you all again!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**(All the smashers are ok. I'LL POST A SPECIAL CHAPTER SOON! When, and in which order, I SHAN'T TELL YOU!)**


	11. The Black Journal

**Ok, I hope the excitement and craziness of last chapter was at least decent enough to most of you. I hope I did good with it.**

**Anyways, what this chapter is exactly about, ya gotta find out by reading! No other way, Jose!**

**Let's start!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"What do we do now?" Luigi was the first to ask. They had been flying around aimlessly in the Gummi ship, with no objective at all in mind.

"We managed to rescue Eagun, but that wasn't part of the plan." Paul reminded everybody. "I think we were trying to find Seth and Anca."

"Yeah, but Eagun said Seth never answered his number!" Ness cried. "So…either he's been to busy to answer, or something happened to him."

"He could be hiding somewhere." Link said. "Like us, only he's been hiding longer, and for a different reason."

"Or maybe he's just a recluse." Matt said. "But that doesn't answer Anca's half of the story, and we're STILL guessing about Seth!"

"Maybe…We should hold off on finding Seth until we know more." Fox said, from the captain's seat.

"Poyo?" Kirby asked.

"See, I think we're just running around with our heads cut off right now." Fox said. "Just because we landed in Orre, doesn't mean we need to stay there. What about those black creatures? What are they? WHY do they appear, now?"

"Pichu!" Pichu said excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"Hmm?"

"Pichu!" Pichu insisted, pointing at the tattered black book Ness was reading.

"What? HEY!" Ness yelled, when Pichu grabbed the book and started pulling. He knocked her away with a slight psychic push, before speaking. "What are ya tryin' to do? Ruin this book!?!??!"

"PICHU!" Pichu screeched, still pointing at the book.

"Hand it to me, for just a sec." Matt said. Ness scowled impatiently, then gave Matt the book. Matt leafed back to the beginning of the book while Ness crossed his arms and pouted.

"It's kinda hard to read…But I think this is Cress' journal." Matt decided at length.

"How's it hard to read?" Paul asked.

"The print is tiny." Matt sighed. "…But I have a feeling there's something in this book that can help us."

"So far, it's just been a load of personal stuff." Ness said. "Him, Master Hand, Crazy Hand, and a few other people during their quest to defeat Dhaos. Stuff they did while they traveled about, like racing a kid in a town, just…fun stuff, sad stuff, all of it…"

"Well, at least he was as human as the rest of us are." Matt said. "You're sure you didn't spot anything?"

"Yeah…I don't even remember where I found that odd verse…" Ness said, scratching his head. "It's like it disappeared."

"How can it just disappear?" Link asked. "I mean, for PETE'S sake, it's written down!"

"I KNOW it's in here…" Ness said, grabbing the book from Matt, and looking back in it.

Matt looked back at his now empty hand, flexed his fingers a bit, then stood back up from his leaning position. "Anyways, I was thinking of taking one last look at the Mansion."

"What if we meet GUN forces there?" Fox asked rhetorically.

"Then, we give 'em a taste of Super Smash." Matt smirked. "Really, though, we didn't have enough time to get everything we need. I think there's still a good deal of stuff we could use to make our quest easier."

"Like?"

"Well, the Hologram system, for example."

"We HAVE one already!" Fox shouted impatiently.

"Yes, but do we have one that's also a database?" Matt asked. Fox stayed silent. "I don't know about you people, but I think Master Hand hid some stuff around the mansion in case something like this happened. That book…" Matt said, pointing at the diary, "…Is one of them. Of course, this is all just a hypothesis."

"…If there IS some other things, you're worried about GUN getting to it, aren't you?" Paul asked suddenly.

"RIGHT THERE!" Matt said. "That's the point. We need to know before THEY know, if there is anything there. We have to stay one step ahead of them. Then, that COULD be the reason they attacked us in the first place!"

"May I remind everybody, that we're just jumping to conclusions here?" Fox said.

"I don't see you jumping around." Matt said. "Admit it: We're stuck."

"…Fine then. We're stuck." Fox sighed.

"Still, having an idea of what to do next is a load of help." Matt said. "I'd rather run all over the place following clues, than doing everything on our own. If we can get help, dang it, I say we take advantage of that!"

"Hear Hear!" Luigi said.

"So, we're going back to the mansion." Matt said. "I know we've flexed our muscles a lot today, some of us, so you guys can relax. Fox, Link, Luigi, and I will head up the infiltration team."

"And if we feel strong enough to help?" Paul asked.

"Feel welcome to, but I think we should try to take it easy."

"I've been through worse." Paul shrugged. "It'll take more than a Nobody or two to keep me down."

"Organization members, no less." Link said.

"Ok, then. Fox, you ready?" Matt asked.

"Yes, I'm setting course for the mansion, straightaway." Fox affirmed. He did a bit of typing on the control deck, then, then ship turned around and shot into the sky, towards the moon that hung in the heavens. Only, it wasn't a moon at all, but the dimension where the Smash Mansion, and the city was.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A bit later, the team passed the illusion that protected the mini-dimension, and now they were flying over what looked like a never-ending ocean. Ahead, the island lay bathed in sunlight: a pitiful ruin of the beauty and prestige it once held.

"…How's it coming, Fox?" Matt asked, pacing the cockpit. He and Fox were the only ones in the control room at the moment. Everybody else was down in the hold, ready to depart.

"Good." Fox said. "We'll be landing shortly."

Matt sighed, and stopped to watch as Fox started turning the engine off, and activated the landing gear.

They dropped onto a pad similar to a helicopter landing pad near the mansion, then there was a metallic groaning as the pad sank into the ground, and was hidden by two doors covered in earth and grass.

They were now inside the docking bay of the mansion, safely hidden away, but also blind.

"Looks like the light bulbs burned out." Fox commented, looking at the dim ceiling far above.

"That's hardly an issue." Matt said. "We'll be fine.

"Ok, then." Fox said, typing in the final command. The ship lowered slightly, then stopped with a jerk, a sign that it was parked. He pulled a lever and opened the hatch, then grabbed an odd looking key and followed Matt out of the cockpit, and into the harbor.

The rest of the team stood waiting, and when Matt and Fox came out, they proceeded to the exit.

"I was thinking." Link said. "We could grab a few extra Warpstars, and store them in our ship. They could be handy."

"There MAY be a spare Arwing here." Fox added." But it could be toast by now…"

"I would like to remind you all the advantage of having a hologram machine." Matt smiled. "We could recreate the mansion virtually, and live inside it: a home away from home!"

"We could stick all our extra stuff in a virtual room, and not have it take up any space." Paul said. "The possibilities are awesome!"

"Yeah!" Link said. "We can have all kinds of stuff, and really be ready for anything."

"Even Kirby's bottomless stomach?" Ness asked, poking a thumb over his shoulder at Kirby, who shook with a deep rumble.

"POY o." Kirby said, rubbing his tummy.

"I think being ready for Kirby's stomach is an impossibility, but we can try." Fox said, cracking a huge grin.

"Ok!" Luigi said, clapping his hands for attention. "You guys talked about gathering warpstars…Let's go ahead and do that, get more food, extra gummi blocks if there are any, and that hologram computer. Anything else I forgot?"

"Hmm…I think that's good enough." Matt said, after thinking for a moment. "We can always come back: It's not like this place is going to disappear."

"Then, I'll help Link look for stars." Luigi said.

"Me, Pichu, and Kirby can get the food." Ness offered.

"I think I know where the gummi block stash is." Paul said. "I can get it."

"Then Fox and I will get the computer." Matt said. "Meet back here in…twenty minutes at the latest. Let's go!"

The team split up, going through the exit before splitting up, searching for the supplies.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few minutes later, Matt and Fox were in the ruined Auditorium, digging about in the fallen ceiling chunks and smashed chairs for the computer. They were up on the stage looking around. The computer wasn't standing up any more, so the duo guessed that it had been knocked over in the mayhem.

The problem was, not whether the computer was still working, but…

"WHERE THE HECK IS IT!?!?" Matt yelled, pulling his hair.

"I don't know." Fox replied calmly, dismissing what was Matt's fifth outburst.

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!!" Matt growled. He kicked a pile of junk nearby, and stubbed his foot very badly. Matt ignored the pain in his foot, because he had heard a metallic, hollow sort of sound.

"It it it?" Fox asked, jumping over in a huge bound. He started digging, and Matt stooped down to help him. In a matter of seconds the two pulled the ceiling tiles off, and a few of the chairs. They were greeted with the rather beaten, but still useable computer.

"Yes!" Matt ejaculated, pumping his arm into the air victoriously.

They had just finished digging it up, when there was a noise behind them. They looked over their shoulders, and right into a black face with red eyes.

"WAH!" Fox yelped. He grabbed his gun, but fumbled with it in his surprise and dropped it into junk at his feet. He dove in time to avoid a slash from the Sharb. Matt drew back his metal fist, and let it fly.

Fox stood up, and there was a disgusting squelching noise as Matt decapitated the monster with a forceful punch.

"C'mon, let's get going." Matt said in a low tone. He and fox hurried over to the computer, and ran from the room as quietly as possible.

The second they left the room, they ran into a large group of monsters, all blocking the way out.

"Can you carry the computer?" Matt asked, not giving Fox a chance to say yes or no. Matt transformed his arm again, and shot the monsters ahead of him full of flaming bullets. The monsters all screeched and fell to the ground dead, with flames licking them and everything else nearby. Matt and Fox jumped over the corpses, and continued down the hallway, uninterrupted by any more monsters.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

They burst into the harbor, which was in chaos already. Everybody but Fox and Mat were guarding the ship, and by the look of things, everybody was successful in their tasks.

"All right then…ALL ABOARD!" Matt yelled.

Everybody near the ship looked up for a brief second, then slowly backed up to the ship, while Matt and Fox charged.

Link used a spin attack to clear a hole in the mob, and Matt and Fox rushed through, into the ship. Link planted one bomb, then jumped into the ship and closed the hatch.

Matt set down the computer, then sprinted up the staircase. Fox and link followed after him after checking everything down in the hold.

Everybody was seated as Matt started up the ship, then he piloted it out of the hangar.

"Ok, so what?" Matt said. "We had a little scare, but now we're better prepared!"

"Scare? SCARE!?!?" Paul yelled. "I almost had a heart attack! I was minding my own business, digging around in a treasure chest, when one of those things snuck up on me! I nearly jumped out of my skin!"

"I forgot you were a nervous, twitchy sort of person." Link smiled good naturedly. Paul blushed in embarrassment, but remained silent. He, and everybody else knew it to be true.

"Aww, cut 'im a break." Luigi said. "I'm worse, by far!"

"Boo." Link whispered in his ear.

"YAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Luigi screamed. He shot out of his seat and hit his head on the ceiling, leaving him dazed.

"Ok, be nice!" Ness gasped, his sides heaving from laughter. "I found something that could help us out, in this black diary."

"Really? Let us hear it." Fox asked, his interest piqued.

"Um, there's not much, but there's this place Master hand and Cress visited a few times…Like a refuge, and yet, a place where they found out what to do next." Ness muttered. "A place called the Forest of Origin."

"Forest…of Origin?" Link asked. "I never heard of it."

"Cress says it's a place that only appeared on Ivalice, when it was whole." Ness explained. "It's been protected by centuries by the very place that was sealed, the Void."

"Interesting development." Paul said.

"Yeah, but the Forest of Origin is protected by a mountain range, dubbed 'The Black Crag'. It's a cursed mountain, surrounded by an even more cursed forest."

"I don't like where this is going…" Matt said.

"The forest, the Forest of Emptiness, is extremely treacherous, and the mountain even more still." Ness said. "But, I'm willing to bet, if we don't find Master Hand and Cress there, we might get some pointers as to what we should do next."

"And Cress says absolutely NOTHING about it?" Fox asked incredulously.

"Yeah…He even says that he dares not tell where it is, lest it fall under the grasp of evil." Ness said. "If HE says something like that, there HAS to be something worth going through, just sitting there waiting for us!"

"…All in favor of going to this…Forest of Origin?" Matt asked.

Everybody raised their hands, Fox slightly hesitant.

"…Ok, then, to this Forest of Origin! WHEREVER it is!" Matt exclaimed exasperatedly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**OK! Now they have a definite mission!**

**Are all the clues they need all dried up? Or is there something they can do to still find the Forest of Origin?**

**Find out next time! Whenever it is that I update again…Pooh! I'll do it as soon as possible, though!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	12. Help From An Old Friend

**Pk, I thank all of you who reviewed, and those of you that haven't reviewed last chapter, I'D LIKE IT IF YOU COULD.**

**Anyways, let's start! This arc is gonna be the Timeless Forest arc!**

**WHY do I call it that? Watch, and read.**

**Oh, and if the place is to quiet, and scary, sorry!**

**I actually visited this place in a nightmare, a long time ago…**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

In the gummi ship, eight smashers sat.

They had a plan…but no means to do what they felt they needed to do.

In the hold, a few of the smashers sat, making a few, last minute preparations, in case they found the forest.

Above, in the cockpit, Matt, Fox, and Link tirelessly steered the ship onwards, in search of the elusive Forest of Emptiness.

Ness was sitting up against a wall in the hold reading the journal near a pile of warpstars. Paul was next to him, looking at the diagram of a small, powerful hand-held pistol.

"…Hmm…" Paul hummed pensively. He stretched out his right hand, and in a flash of light, his sword appeared. He took one more look at the diagram, then looked at the sword with a fierce, unrelenting stare.

In his mind, he pictured the sword turning into the gun.

Ness looked up from the diary for a second, and watched as the sword melted into a floating ball of metal, then compressed and stretched out into the exact shape of the gun in the picture, only the metal was still iridescent.

"…Nice." Paul smiled, looking at the cool, and yet lethal and beautiful gun in his hand.

"You're not gonna shoot me with that, are ya?" Ness asked warily.

"No, of course not." Paul said, sounding offended. "I can changed the form of my sword, and I WILL take advantage of that."

"…Where did all the extra metal go?" Ness asked, looking at the gun. Indeed, there was less mass than there was to begin with.

"Since this sword is solidified magic, all the extra magic is absorbed into me when I change the weapon's form." Paul explained. "With this cool sucker, my magic's better, and more imposing."

"What if you make a big weapon?" Ness asked.

"…Then I use up some of my own magic, to add extra mass."

"Oh."

"Yeah, think of it like this: I lose weapon power if I go for magic, and if I go for power, I lose magic power instead."

"Makes sense."

Paul nodded, then changed the gun back into his sword. Ness resumed his reading, and Paul watched Luigi get chased around by Pichu and Kirby.

Kirby was making angry noises, and brandishing his stubby arms. Apparently, Luigi had rejected his Italian food request. Pichu was chasing him…well, for the heck of it.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"How's the computer coming along?" Fox asked. He was sitting in the pilot's seat, Link was snoozing in the co-pilot's seat, and Matt was hooking up the Mansion Computer Database to the ship's hologram projector.

"…It's taking some time, but I'm not a genius for nothing!" Matt declared, going back at his task with vigor. "I'll be done in…five seconds."

"WHAAAAT!?!?"

"Huh, wuzzat?" Link asked, his eyes most of the way shut. He yawned widely and stretched out his arms, then sighed and sat upright from his curled position.

"Finished!" Matt said. He stood up and wiped sweat off his forehead with his right arm, while his left mechanical arm turned from a welding tool/ screwdriver/anything in a toolbox to its normal form.

"Does it work?" Link asked.

"Let's find out." Matt said. Fox stopped the ship, and let it float in place, while Matt activated the hologram projector. The windshield went black, then there was a flash like it became a computer screen.

"We're in." Matt said. The small, three foot high machine in the middle of the cockpit opened up a slot, then a keyboard materialized. The top of the post-like machine had a clear blue dome, and beneath it were a bunch of flashing lights and such. the computer from the mansion was built directly into the ship's computer now, but the screen was useless. The ship was going to use the windshield anyways.

Matt clicked a few buttons, and was instantly denied access.

"Password please." The computer requested.

"Master…Hand…Rules." Matt typed.

"Access granted." The computer said. There was another flash, and then a loooooooooooong list of folders and the like appeared on-screen.

"How did you know that was the password?" Fox asked.

"Master Hand says stuff in his sleep." Matt replied, eyes glued to the screen.

"Hey!" Link interrupted, pointing at the screen. "Click on that one that looks like a black book."

Matt clicked on the journal, and was asked for another password.

"……………………."

"Ya gonna do anything?" Fox asked.

"…Cress…has…the book." Matt muttered. The computer gave in, and revealed a bunch of documents, the journal in digital form.

"I'm done asking how you do it." Link shrugged helplessly.

"…Where should we start?" Matt asked. The book was divided into folders, based on content.

"There's personal stuff…Folklore…hmm, click on locations." Fox said.

Matt clicked on the folder that looked like a mini-world, and inside was a list of destinations.

"…No Forest of Emptiness." Matt snarled in disgust. "This was a waste of time!"

"…Hello? Can somebody help me?"

"Huh?"

Link looked closely at the screen, and Fox and Matt looked at him.

"It came from the screen." Link said uncertainly.

"I hear you! Look…Look at the pointer!" The voice yelled.

Link's eyes traveled up slowly to the pointer, which, was in fact a hand. A _LEFT_ hand!

"Crazy!?!? Is that you?" Fox asked, shocked.

"Yeah…LOOOONG story!" Crazy laughed sheepishly. "I…CAN'T move! Can ya set me loose?"

Matt clicked away on the keyboard, and there was a snapping noise as Crazy fell, and his place was swapped with a standard pointer. Crazy kept falling, and splatted at the bottom of the screen.

"Ow."

"How DID you get in there!?!?" Matt asked.

"Simple. When those GUN morons attacked…I…Hid myself away inside the computer."

"That was risky." Fox whistled. "If they destroyed the computer, you'd be gone along with it!"

"Not so fast! You underestimate me…but mind you, it'd be a Pain." Crazy said. "…Can I get out? I'm getting cramped."

"Oops." Matt whistled.

"What?"

"I forgot to install a projector laser!" Matt shouted. "I'm so sorry, Crazy!"

"…Oh piddly posh." Crazy said. "Don't go and get you pants all in a twist about it. I'll live."

"Still…"

"Lookie here, I thought I heard you guys talking about the Forest of Emptiness, am I right?" Crazy asked.

"Yeah."

"You've been forgetting who I am." Crazy said. "I was with my brother when he first went there!"

"Ya mean…?" Link asked.

"Yesh!" Crazy said in a silly voice. "I'll turn myself into an autopilot program, and take ya all there!"

"What will THAT do to you?" Matt asked.

"I will be in absolute control of the ship." Crazy said. "With me being data, I won't need to eat, sleep, NOTHING! Besides, I'll get BORED. You know what THAT means..."

"Yes, we do." Fox said, seriously.

"Anyhow! Take a friend's advice: watch you butt, and everybody else's" Crazy said, in perhaps the first time they every heard him use a serious tone. "I mean, don't go staring at their biscuits, they'd think that was rude, ya know what I mean? Just…take care of yourselves."

"We will." Link assured him.

"OK! Now, let's GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-! Oh, before I forget, _fasten your seatbelts._

Wisely taking his advice, Fox called down into the hold, and everybody got into their seats, and strapped themselves in.

"What's happening?" Ness asked, confused.

"We're going to the Forest of Emptiness." Matt said. "And you wouldn't believe who's helping us!"

"Poyo?"

"Crazy Hand!"

"HUH!?!?!??"

"He's inside this computer." Matt explained, tapping the computer with his fist.

"Hey! That tickled!" Crazy chuckled. "Ya'll ready? 'CAUSE HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The ship shot forwards, and stole the breath out of everybody. The ship shot past the sound barrier with ease, and traveled off into the horizon.

It was a big planet: It would be awhile before they got there.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few hours later, the forest finally came into sight.

The forest looked very old, and most of the trees were huge. They were also black and old, half of them rotten and falling apart. A thick canopy of leaves covered the whole roof of the forest, blocking out sunlight, and making it a dark place…

The gummi ship landed close to the gnarly forest, and the hatch popped open. The ship expelled eight smashers, and they all fell on the ground with a crash.

"Whew, I'm tired!" Crazy said. "My butt itches…Do I even HAVE a butt?"

"Don't ask ME!" Luigi said. He looked back at the woods over his shoulder.

His reaction time was exactly .oooo1 seconds. He screamed and jumped into the air, and grabbed Link, who caught him in surprise.

"Get it together, Man!" Ness said.

Luigi took in a deep breath, and pulled out his vacuum cleaner. He put the Poltergust 3000 on his back, and held the hose in his hand. Link drew his sword and shield, Matt turned his arm into a gun, Paul summoned his sword, Pichu sparked a tiny bit, Fox drew his blaster, and Kirby pulled out a muffin and ate it.

"…You guys need each other now more than ever." Crazy hand said. "Be careful in there. I KNOW you can do it!"

"I hope we can." Link said.

"…We'll see each other again." Crazy said. "You guys are smashers, after all! Let me fill you in: There's a mountain in this forest all right. The REAL forest you're looking for, is inside a wormhole. Deep in this forest you'll find it. In that wormhole, you'll find the Forest of Emptiness!"

"I'll keep that in mind." Matt said. "We'll ALL keep that in mind!"

"Ok, then. I leave it up to you. I'll take good care of Eagun!"

"Where DID we put him, anyways?" Ness asked.

"He's in that converted closet, remember?" Fox said. "He'll be fine."

"…Ok, guys…Now or never," Link said. "Crazy, thank you fro all you've done."

"Aww, stop getting mushy on me! Just go, already, before you damage you manliness any more!" Crazy said in a touched voice. "See you, though. I'll be here, waiting."

"Ok, guys, let's go." Fox said.

They turned their backs on Crazy and the Gummi ship, and slowly walked into the twisted forest ahead of them. They were slowly eaten up by the darkness, and soon, there was not a trace left of them…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Forest of Emptiness, here they come!**

**Yeah, this is basically the start of the Timeless forest Arc.**

**Well, let me know what ya think! I need ta know.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	13. The Gnarled Wood

**Ok, thank you everybody that reviewed!**

**I have nothing to say, other than I am in the mood to CONTINUE, not jabber!**

**SO…Let's go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

It wasn't the Forest of Emptiness, but it sure was devoid of warmth, and friendliness.

The long dead leaves on the forest floor crunched beneath eight pairs of feet, some fresh, others limp and rotten with moisture and mold. It was slightly humid in the forest, and the air was definitely stale, and as dead as the leaves on the ground.

There was no noise, no breeze, just the crunching of leaves and the breathing of people…and a mouse, and a puff?

Luigi was leading the exploration team, definitely unwilling, but doing it all the same. He held out his vacuum hose, and the end was lit up with a built in flashlight.

It was decided, that to avoid losing anybody, they were all tied to each other by a rope around their waist, like a long procession of prisoners. Link, who was heading up the rear of the party, had Pichu in a small harness strapped to his chest. Kirby was riding on Paul's shoulder, and Ness was attempting to read by the tiny traces of light coming from the flashlight. Everybody else was as tense as a spring, just waiting for something to pop out of the darkness, and scare the daylights out of them.

"How long have we been walking?" Fox asked. He was trying to keep track of time, since he had nothing else to do.

Matt sighed, and looked at his mecha arm. A clock appeared after a few shutters opened, and showed the time.

"…It's 11:00 at night." Matt yawned.

"It feels like we've been in here forever." Paul said.

"Well, we entered at 8:00." Fox said. "And we've been going at a steady pace for three hours. We've only walked five or eight miles."

"Sheesh, you'd think a forest would know when to stop growing." Link said.

Up above, the canopy was a thick curtain of leaves, yellow, red, and orange. Thing is, no light entered the forest, so it was dark, night OR day.

Luigi was shaking like a sapling in a hurricane. His teeth chattered at a rate faster than the fire rate of a machine gun, and it was taking all of his will power to not scream and pass out. He had a feeling they were being followed, but that could just be his paranoia kicking in.

"Ok, let's st-" Matt started saying, but Luigi burst out screaming, and dropped to the ground, covering his head with his hands. "…I was about to say that we stop and go to sleep."

"…We didn't bring anything to sleep in, did we?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, in a way." Matt said, holding out a cube.

"You expect me to sleep on that?" Link scoffed. "What is it, a pillow?"

"No, it's a holographic storage cube." Matt said. "I rigged a small projector, and connected it right to a miniature hard-drive."

"Hey! We could use that to free Crazy!" Link said.

"No, it's not powerful enough." Matt said. "Trust me, I'd do it if I could, but we just don't have the parts! Anyways, I have a huge rug, and a few sleeping bags in here."

"Pyo poy yo?"

"No, no food…Sorry."

Kirby crossed his arms and pouted again.

"Still, better than sleeping on slimy, dead leaves."

"OOOOOOOOOOoooh….Don't even start!" Paul gagged.

"Sorry." Matt apologized. He tossed the cube on the ground, and pressed a few buttons on a tiny keyboard on his left arm. The cube flashed, and shot out a tiny blue beam. There were some wavy blue lines indicating a computerized picture of something.

The line scanned, and formed what looked like a wire frame version of a sleeping bag, a blue one. There was a flash, and the sleeping bag solidified. The laser shot everywhere in the tiny clearing, and soon the camp was set up on a specialized rug.

The rug had a circular hole in the middle, and since the rug was fire-proof, a campfire could be set there with ease.

Matt simply gathered up a large pile of twigs that Fox, Link, and Paul helped him to gather, and he set them on fire with a fire bullet.

Luigi pulled himself into his sleeping bag, vacuum and all, and zipped it up as much as he could without suffocating himself. All that came out since then was snores, and sometimes frightened muttering. Pichu was nearly as nervous as Luigi, and she too was all curled up inside her sleeping bag.

Everybody else was a tad nervous. It was hard not to be, with it being so dang quiet, and lonesome.

"Were I alone here, I should think I would go insane." Paul shivered. He tucked himself into his sleeping bag, and used a tiny bit of ice magic to cool it down inside. After all, he liked it cold when he slept.

"Who's gonna do the watching?" Link asked. Fox and Matt rounded on him.

"I'm glad you mentioned that." Matt said. "Just because we haven't run into anything, doesn't mean we're alone. It may very well be, but, we have yet to find out."

"Still, who's going to do the watch?" Fox asked.

"I'll start." Matt said. "At eight, we'll get up and continue on. I'll leave the clock on my arm on, so you guys can keep checking when I sleep. Go and get a good rest." Matt said.

"…Ok…If you say so." Link said.

Link and Fox turned in for the night, and Matt sat down on his bag, and kept constant vigilance for an hour, before getting Link up for his shift.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

At seven, everybody had served one hour on the watch, and even thought it was a tad early, Matt kept everybody moving. The ropes were tied back around their waists, and they trudged on, into the blackness of the forest.

The whole day continued on, and nothing happened. Eerie silence reigned in the air, and The Smashers took the time to steel themselves against their task, and any hardships they might have to endure.

Nothing interesting happened, until later that night.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was nearing nine o' clock at night, and the team was getting tired, and fast.

"Poooooooooooyoooooooo…" Kirby moaned in pain.

"Ok, then." Matt said. "If we don't get anywhere in another hour, we'll turn back and return to the ship. If we stay in here another day, we'll die of thirst."

"Nice way to put it." Link remarked in a sarcastic, absentmindedly type of voice.

Matt shook his head, and they kept walking.

A minute later, Luigi was waving the flashlight back and forth, when the light went across something white.

He froze, and everybody bumped into him, causing the team to fall over in surprise. He raised a shaking hand and turned on the flashlight, and nearly screamed.

He was in front of a big, stone gargoyle, with a spear aimed at his head!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Fox could have sworn he had heard a rustling, like some birds flying far away.

"Luigi?" Paul asked.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-Oh, huh?"

"It's a statue."

Luigi stopped screaming, and looked up into the menacing face of marble, and in his mind, he started counting his blessings. He scooted away from the statute, with suspicion clouding his expression.

"Well, yeah? Who's to say it's not going to come to life, and try murdalizing me?"

"Let's take a break." Fox sighed. "I think I'm going to fall apart! This place is so miserable!"

Everybody grunted their agreement, and plopped themselves down on the ground, which was thankfully dry.

" We found SOMETHING." Link said. Matt didn't reply, and set up another campfire. It cast a wavering orange light about the tiny clearing, and revealed that they were at the foot of a huge tree. The statue was wedged into the base of the tree, like it had been sitting there since the tree first started growing. The big tree towered overhead, and the top was lost in the big, black expanse that was the sky. It was impossible to see past the leaves above.

The tree, and the clearing they were in was like a depression: they had been going downhill for a minute, so they were well below the level of the normal forest around them. The tree took up most of the crater, but there was still enough room for a small parking lot, which was more than enough.

All around, they were surrounded by impenetrable forest. They had come by a definite path, it wasn't like they were wandering clueless.

They set up camp in the small clearing, a few yards from the statue. They were in the middle of the clearing, which felt like it was in the middle of nowhere.

Everybody lay down on their sleeping bags, and pursued their own personal interests before turning in.

Luigi stole one last look at the statue before closing his eyes, but felt even more nervous that before.

It felt like that statue was watching him.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was late in the night, at the pitchest black hour.

Everybody was asleep, but Fox hovered between the realm of sleep, and reality.

His eyes were closed, but something was keeping him awake. He just couldn't get to sleep.

Crack.

Fox's eyes shot open, and he sat up to look around.

The clearing was empty, except for the rest of the team.

"…Must've heard a branch dropping, or something." Fox muttered. He lay back down, and tried closing his eyes again, but he jumped back up when the sound repeated itself.

He looked up again, and counted the number of lumps laying around camp.

"Seven…Plus me equals eight." Fox said. He sat there, looking out of the corner of his eyes, while his gears turned in his head.

He saw a slight movement out of the corner of his eyes, and he sharply twisted his head in that direction, but he didn't see anything.

He looked to his left at the big tree, and gasped.

That statue wasn't at the base of the tree.

He turned his head in time to see a rushing blur, and he shot out of the way, just as his sleeping bag was slashed to ribbons!

"ATTACK!" Fox yelled.

Everybody instantly jumped up, weapons drawn and ready.

The blur slowed down, and revealed itself to be the statue. It now looked like it was a living thing, like it had been sealed beneath a thin layer of stone. It was a gargoyle alright, but an odd one. Its body was made up of three colors, Grey, White, and Black. The exact middle of its body was grey, and its right side was white. Its left side was black, like the colors on its body were symbolic. The white half looked kinda angelic, the middle part was normal looking, and the black side was contorted like a demon's body.

It held a wicked looking spear, half white and half black. The spear had a dual-pronged end, and the white blade looked like an angel wing, and the black side looked like a demon's wing.

The Gargoyle noiselessly flapped through the air, enveloped in a shimmering veil of light that distorted its appearance. There was a flash, and what looked like a wall of light surrounded the whole clearing, then vanished.

"We're trapped." Paul said. "I can sense the walls, but its impossible to break them!"

"So we just have to beat this thing then?" Ness asked. "How hard can it be?"

The Gargoyle swooped down on them, and they ducked to avoid being decapitated by a long-range horizontal slash. It swung the lance back at them, and Link thrust his sword up in time to stop the lance from hitting anybody. He was quickly overpowered, and the gargoyle mercilessly tossed him into the air. Paul knocked Link aside with a blast of wind before he could be speared on the end of the lance, then Kirby grabbed his hammer and smashed the statue's hand.

The hammer hit the hand, but didn't break the hand. The gargoyle flew into the air out of reach, and charged up its lance with a mixture of light and dark energy.

"Watch out!" Fox yelped.

Everybody dived to the side as multiple bolts of light and dark energy shot past them, burning the ground wherever they hit. Fox was unable to avoid one, so he activated his reflector, and the ray ricocheted and shot through the leaves above. The gargoyle's spear flashed, then it swooped down in a straight line, with its spear outwards. Everybody was hit by a wave of wind that shot from it sideways as it passed, and it flew up out of reach again.

"We're going to have to work together to win." Link said.

Paul switched to his gun form, then he fired his magic gun at the gargoyle. Massive condensed balls of flame shot at it, but it spun its spear and knocked the projectiles aside. The spheres of flame exploded violently and lit up the clearing.

Luigi then rushed forwards and sprayed a cloud of ice at the gargoyle, which flew away and fired a jet of wind at him. Ness used PK magnet on Luigi to absorb the blow, and then Luigi fired a huge ball of ice from his vacuum. The ball of ice smashed into the gargoyle's chest, stunning it and slowing it down.

"Ice is its weakness!" Ness cried triumphantly.

"Heat it up, then if we hit it with a really cold attack, it will shatter!" Matt said.

"Best plan I've heard yet." Fox said.

The team pressed their attack, forcing the gargoyle on the defensive. It spun its spear again, and summoned up a sphere of impenetrable wind around its body, then it charged up a massive ball of pulsing grey energy. Fox fired a few lasers at the wind bubble, only for them to glance off.

Link pulled out his bow, and charged up a light arrow, just as the statue was about to release its attack. He released the arrow, which shot through the dome and hit the demon's dark side. It screeched and dropped the ball of energy which exploded on the ground and knocked everybody down. Fox quickly recovered, and managed to land a few laser blows on the gargoyle. It seemed unaffected, but its body was starting to blacken where the lasers hit it.

It lashed out at the smashers again swing its spear, then it flipped backwards and plunged to the ground with its spear aimed down. The spear punched right through the earth, and a shockwave of grey energy pulsed from its body. Everybody jumped over the wave, and as the gargoyle leapt back into the air, Pichu hit it with a well aimed thunderbolt.

Kirby asked Matt something really quick, and Matt nodded. Kirby swallowed Matt, and donned a mechanical arm like Matt's. He and Matt switched to fire bullets and opened fire, making the gargoyle dance through the air to avoid being hit. It swung its spear and released a freezing gust of wind, which almost hit the two. Paul released a slithering burst of flame, and it exploded, dispelling the icy wind. The gargoyle seemed to cool itself down by using the attack, unfortunately.

The gargoyle flew away, and raised its spear into the air, as if to summon something. Its body split into three, one normal grey gargoyle, a white angelic looking statue, and a demonic gargoyle with evil eyes.

The black statue vanished in a cloud of smoke, then appeared behind Luigi and swung its spear at his head. Paul tackled Luigi and saved him from the spear, then rolled along the ground before springing into the air in a high back flip. The demon swung its spear at him, but he fired a Firaga bullet at its head, and knocked it off balance. The angel thrust its spear into the air and there was a flash, then rainbow colored runes appeared under Matt and Kirby. They dashed aside as tons of bolts of light hit the runes, then a semi-transparent lance made of light smashed into the center of the runes before sending out waves of light. Pichu used Thunder again, and naturally, the bolt of lightning hit the gargoyle, via the upraised spear.

The grey statue rushed at Ness, Fox, and Link, and stabbed at them with a lethal lance made of stone. Link knocked the spear out of the way with his shield, and stabbed the ghoul in the shoulder, Ness hit it with a column of flame, and while it was distracted, Link shot fire arrows at it and Fox hit it with lasers. Link knocked it away with a spin attack, and Ness aimed a fateful PK Freeze at it. It screeched as the wave of ice washed over it, then it exploded and showered the clearing in grey stone.

The angel and the demon flew back at each other, and in a flash, they had re-melded. The grey middle part was missing now, and the gargoyle was divided by Light and Dark.

It stuck out both its arms, and the black spear flew into the angel side's hand, while the angel spear flew into the demon's hand.

It spun the spears rapidly, and created two howling gales which it aimed at the smashers. Its mismatched wings flashed, and rays of light and dark hailed from the whirlwinds, hitting everybody and leaving them with some nasty cuts. Matt fired a charged fire shot at the gargoyle again, but it knocked it away with a spear. It held its spears upside down, and walked across the ground using the spears like stilts. Each time one of the spears hit the ground, it sent out a wave of energy. The smashers jumped over the waves, and while in the air, Matt, Kirby, Ness, Fox, Paul, Link, Luigi, and Pichu hit it with an attack, either lightning or fire in nature. There was a huge explosion, and the two gargoyles eparate dto engage the smashers again. The were very hot now.

"Hit me!" Ness said. "PK MAGNET!"

"Hit him with ice attacks!" Matt yelled.

Fox and Pichu split up to attack the statues, while everybody else hit Ness with their strongest ice spells and attacks.

Fox went head to head with the demon. It slashed at him, but he jumped over the thrust and ran up the spear, up to the demon's face. He planted a bunch of kicks on it, then wavedashed out of the way as it punched at him. Fox hit it with a few lasers, and it threw a ball of darkness at him. Fox dashed out of the way, and kept firing lasers at it as it chased him, throwing attacks at him. It stabbed at him again, and he ran behind it and used Fox illusion to knock it away, then used Fire Fox as a follow-up attack. He slammed into it and hit it good, but it whirled on him and grabbed him around his waist, as its hands were big.

Fox gasped as he started to get crushed, but he used his fire Fox attack to scorch it with intense flames. The harder it squeezed, the fiercer Fox's flames got.

Pichu zigzagged towards the angel statue, which summoned rays of light from the sky to hurtle down at hit her. She panted as she dodged the incoming holy rays, then shot a jet of lightning at the angel. It flew out of the way, and used its Holy Lance spell again. Pichu got out of the way of the white runes, then knocked the angel out of the sky with a tackle. Pichu pumped the angel full of lightning, then jumped back and summoned up the largest bolt of lightning she could muster. There was a huge boom as a massive bolt hit the statue, and it got back up and into the air, unscratched, but really, really hot.

"NOW!" Ness yelled. Everybody ran backwards, and avoided Ness, who was now glowing with an icy aura.

"PK…………FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!"

A huge gale of frozen wind erupted from his hands, like a frozen hurricane. There was a huge assortment of icy bullets, Icy arrows, and huge balls of ice amidst the enraged gust of ice.

The second the gargoyles were hit by the ice, they screeched, and since they were so hot, they exploded into dust as their temperatures attempted to go back to normal.

Fox dropped to the ground, and Pichu stood back up. Both of them looked nearly frozen to death.

"Oops." Ness laughed sheepishly.

"At least w-w-we b-beat them." Fox chattered, his teeth rattling like a rusty car.

"What a rough fight!" Luigi sighed, wiping his brow.

"Look where they used to be!" Link said.

"Poyo?"

Where the statue had been guarding, there was now an empty hollow, and a tunnel.

Everybody gave each other a significant glance, and then they walked towards the hole after gathering up their ruined camping supplies.

Matt turned of the memory cube and put it in his pocket, and then the wary heroes walked into the tunnel at the foot of the tree.

Inside, it was dark of course, so everybody tied the ropes around their waists once again, and Luigi used his flashlight to reveal the inside of the tree cave.

They walked in a circle that slowly spiraled around inside the huge tree, and after a few minutes of careful walking, they stepped out into an open room.

Right at the heart of the tree, in the very middle, was a rift.

It was a cloud of energy, a sign of distorted space.

"Ok, on three, hit it with a huge spell, or something." Matt said.

Matt silently counted down on his fingers, and when he hit three, he shouted it, and everybody made their move.

"FIRAGA!"

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!"

"POYOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Luigi shot a gigantic burst of ice, Link fired a Light arrow, Fox fired a charged up laser, and Matt fired a burst of neutral chaos energy.

"PSI ROCKING!"

The attacks all collided at the same time, and the energy created by the explosion knocked everybody backwards, and up against the wooden walls.

Then there was a huge gust, and the room went black as the portal in front of them opened up, and showed a swirling purple sky, and a black hole.

The wind picked up to a screaming gale, and a huge amount of wind was being sucked into the room. Without any hand-holds, the smashers slowly slipped towards the wormhole.

There was a flash, followed by a few more flashes, and the roar of the black hole intensified, then everybody was sucked in amidst a swirling mass of wind.

They entered the dimension, and fell at a rapidly increasing speed as they hurtled towards the black hole. The roar was deafening, and quickly, everything went black, and they knew no more.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ok, how's that? Part one's finished! There's still more to come, so, wait and see what happens next!**

**I hope you all had fun, because I had a BLAST writing this chapter!**

**See ya next time, and take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	14. The Timeless Forest

**Reviews are down, and I'm starting to feel a little glum…**

**Oh well. I miss a few of my older reviewers, and I'm REALLY wondering where they've been off to.**

**Time to start. I'm thankful to everybody that HAS been reviewing, and now, we go.**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Darkness.

He felt as if he had ceased to exist, but, as time passed, he regained his sense of presence, and he could feel the ground beneath his body.

Link opened his eyes, and at first everything was blurry. He kept his eyes open, and everything finally came into focus.

He and the rest of the team were lying about inside of a tree trunk, but it was different from the one they came here from.

Everything was different.

Link rolled over on his stomach, then he wedged his arms beneath his body and pushed up. He stood up, and got a better look at the area they were in.

They were in another forest, but there was nothing like it across the immense expanse of Ivalice, or any other world, for that matter.

Tall, magnificent, yet terrible trees towered overhead, stretching for infinity into what should have been the sky, but it was a never-ending black abyss. The grass beneath his feet was dry and crunchy, and it was a dull, sickly green. The wood of the trees was a grayish-ash color, and there was a bit of a canopy above, but the leaves were an old, faded yellow color.

Most of the trees were fused with other trees, creating impenetrable walls of wood.

They were in a circular clearing, with no hiding places whatsoever.

The stump behind link was about the size of a very small house, with an arch opening up into the hollow inside where everybody else was.

Link stood there, looking at the place, and suddenly, a severe chill washed up his spine. He didn't want to admit it, but he was terrified.

The air in the forest was very ancient, so incredibly ancient, it felt like it had been sitting here, undisturbed, for an infinity. Looking at the trees, he could see why they would be so large.

There was something else about the air. He couldn't put his finger on it, exactly, but this world…to put it simply, it was dead.

It was dead.

Link looked back at everything again, and saw it clearly. The forest was dead, everything was. Even time had died and gone away.

There was nothing in this world.

"…Ugh…where…are we?" Ness asked.

"Beats me…" Link said as he helped the young psychic up.

By now, everybody else was waking up too. Link helped a few people up, and after everybody was properly conscious, they finally held an intelligible conversation.

"So…This must be the Forest of Emptiness Crazy was speaking of." Matt said.

"It's the only logical explanation." Fox said, tapping his head with his right hand, and holding his elbow with his other hand.

"Poyo…"

"Huh?" Paul asked. in shock. "YOU say you're not hungry!?!?"

"Poyo po poy!" Kirby insisted, flailing his stubby arms.

"Piiiii chuuuu…." Pichu squeaked in fear, clinging to Luigi's neck. Coincidentally, Luigi was shaking as well.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh…" Luigi moaned, looking about. He was almost white as paper.

"Nice to know I'm not the only nervous one…" Link said, smiling very weakly.

"I feel really…Odd." Paul said. "Like something very important is missing."

"I feel the same." Matt said. "It's just a feeling, but I think this place is MUCH more dangerous than it appears."

"Of course it is." Ness said. "Why would it be so hard to get here?"

"I just hope we're ready, for whatever's out there." Link said, casting a glance towards the exit. It was a breach in between two trees, about the width of a two-lane road. Out past that, was a flat plain scattered with massive trees. It was impossible to see far, with so many huge trees in the way.

The team strode towards the open space, once again tied together by the safety ropes.

Getting lost here would mean wandering for an eternity.

Alone and forgotten.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

There was no way to tell how long they had been in the forest. Matt's watch stopped working, stopped at the exact time they left the living dimension.

Link was still busy looking about, and as they passed more and more trees, it looked as if everything were getting steadily older and older.

There was no time in this dimension.

It didn't take long to discover, but here, nobody got tired, nobody got hungry.

Nobody did anything. All they did was walk, and walk.

As he thought about it, there wasn't any assurance that they'd get though this forest. They could be here, for the rest of eternity, wandering…

As Link looked up into the endless expanse above, he silently hoped he hadn't seen a gigantic, white…

"…Uh, guys?" Link asked.

"What?" Everybody that could speak echoed.

"…What's THAT doing here?" Link asked, pointing up at the huge, sprawling spider web way above. It was really old, and it hung limp, with no breeze to support it.

"…I don't know." Fox said.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Matt said. "It's just a bunch of cob webs."

Link had a feeling it wasn't the case.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Later…Or does that even count if time doesn't pass anymore?

The team was sitting down, not because they felt a need to, but more than anything, they were just doing it out of habit.

"It feels like we've been here for a few minutes." Link said.

"It feels like we've been here for hours." Fox said.

"I think it feels like we've been here for years!" Paul said.

"I say we've been here for about half an hour!" Link pouted.

"Yeah right. We've been here for hours! I know it!" Fox cried.

"We've probably been here for years, and now everybody outside has died of old age, and baddies are everywhere!" Paul wailed.

"Oh, for the LOVE OF…SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ness screamed.

"I think I'm going insane…" Luigi muttered.

"Then we're in the same boat." Matt said.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATT!" The three arguing smashers screamed so loud, Matt jumped a yard into the air.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!?" Matt screamed back.

"WHAT TIME IS IT!?!?"

Mat looked at his dead watch again.

"It's 1:05. It's been like that…oh, I don't know, maybe a few hours, or maybe even a few years?" He asked in a mocking tone.

"SEE!?!?" Fox yelled. "He agreed with me!"

"No, he agreed with me!" Paul insisted.

"He didn't even say minutes!" Link wept hopelessly.

"…Wait a second…" QUIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!" Ness screamed, so loud, the disturbing silence returned to the forest.

"What?" Everybody asked calmly.

Ness pointed silently at Pichu, who was frozen with a look of terror on her face.

"What did you hear?" Ness asked quietly.

"Pi…Pi Pi!" Pichu whispered fearfully.

"…" Ness's face paled, but he didn't say anything.

"Well?" Fox asked impatiently. "We have an argument to continue with!"

"…Pichu said…She heard a crawling noise…" Ness moaned.

"Wait…" Matt said, his face getting pale as well. "You said, crawling?"

"Yeah."

"I think we have a giant spider infestation on our hands." Matt warned quietly. "I scratched an arrow in the grass, so I know which direction we came from, and which direction we were headed. Draw your weapons."

Everybody nodded, and pulled out their weapons, well, tried to.

"I can't…I can't summon my sword!" Paul gasped.

"Huh!??!" Matt asked, shocked.

"My magic…All gone…I know what's happening now…" Paul said, as it dawned on him. "There's no magic here…"

Fox pulled out his gun and fired it, but there wasn't even a spark.

"My gun isn't working. It's never run out of juice before!"

"My vacuum won't turn on!"

"I can't use PSI!"

"PICHU!"

"POYO!"

"My sword's lost its power!" Link cried.

Matt looked at his unworking mecha arm with a blank look, then looked back at everybody with dawning comprehension on his face.

In the background, they could hear skittering of clawed feet.

"…We're powerless here." Matt said emotionlessly.

"What do we do!?!?!" Luigi screamed.

"I'll tell you what we'll do." Matt said determinedly. "We'll run. If we don't need to take any breaks, I think we can surpass human, and humanoid limits here. Let's take advantage of that!"

"If we live through this, and if this plan for some reason doesn't work, I'll break your neck." Fox warned.

Matt failed to reply, but he was seen tugging nervously on his shirt collar.

"Ok, let's go already!" Paul yelled shrilly. He wasn't the only one there that hated spiders.

Just as he said that, the clicking sound got really loud, and the ginormous hulk of a huge black spider appeared.

"TIME TO FLY!!!!!!!!!!!!" Matt screamed.

Everybody started screaming loudly, and they ran after Matt, who was at the head of the procession. They gained speed continually, running faster, faster, and even faster.

The gigantic spiders behind them were entirely black, all over, except for their eyes.

Their eyes were a great, crimson glowing red.

The trees were a blur now, and even though there was really no air to breathe, it felt like there was a huge breeze. The smashers continually sped up, surpassing the normal laws of physics.

First they were going fifty miles per hour…then 60…and after a few more moments, they were past 100.

The spiders were still hot on their trail, going even faster than they were.

"Follow my lead!" Matt yelled over the rush of noise. Everybody nodded as quickly as they could without distracting themselves, then Matt ran right at a tree. Everybody screamed as he hurtled towards it, then he flipped way into the air, and started running up the tree. The tug on the ropes flung everybody else onto the tree, and they continued running.

The spiders were distracted for a moment, then they shot up the tree after the smashers.

They hit the top of the tree, and Matt kicked off the tree towards another. He and the others skipped between trees, still going even faster. The spiders clumsily hopped from tree to tree, and by the time they got to the tree the smashers were on, Link and the crew were already running down the trunk in a screw-like fashion.

The spiders kicked off the tree towards the ground, and when Matt and the rest got to the bottom, the spiders landed at the same time they did, and surrounded them.

A spider rushed at Matt from his right, and he jumped at it and slugged it right in the face. He failed to wound it, but it still stunned it and knocked it backwards.

The rest of the spiders jumped, and everybody jumped into the air. Link drew his sword, and Kirby drew his scimitar. They spun around, back to back, and shot into the air like a helicopter, with everybody else underneath getting whirled about. The spiders hit their heads, and they lost their prey amidst the confusion. They quickly got back up and sorted themselves out, and watched the heroes fly away.

All of the spiders turned around, and shot gigantic rope-thick webs like cannons.

"Incoming!" Paul yelled in a slurred voice, due to excessive spinning. Link and Kirby maneuvered through the crossfire, going left, right, up and down, just barely avoiding the sticky webs. The webs continued on, and hit a tree and caught fast. The spiders used the webs as grappling points and shot up into the trees after the smashers.

Link accidentally flew too close to a web, and slashed right through it. The spider sticking to the web screeched as it fell to the nearly invisible ground below, and it was a long time before the terrible screech left the ears of the smashers, and their minds.

One spider stuck to a tree nearby, and aimed a web right at the two spinning smashers, and it happened so fast, there was no time to react. A thick, gooey web shot and stuck on Link's and Kirby's back, and stopped them from spinning right away. They still spun from the momentum, and they were wrapped up in webs.

Link and Kirby hacked the lead web off, and the 'cocoon' fell to the ground like a bomb. Link hacked away at the webs while kirby blew them away, and by the time they were close to the ground, they were free from the webs. Link and Kirby spun around a bit more, and landed nicely on the ground, and spiders shot more imprisoning webs from above. They avoided the webs and took off again, and lost the spiders for about thirty seconds.

Thirty seconds later, as they were running super fast, the noise of angry clicking appeared again, and the spiders thundered after them.

Matt lowered his head, and pumped his last bit of effort into his body. He rocketed ahead, and the other smashers did the same. Slowly, the spiders fell behind, but ever so slowly.

Link kept going faster and faster, and slowly inched his way past everybody. He was in the middle of the rope, and he forced everybody into a V formation he was going so fast. He aimed at a tree again, and shot up it so fast the bark peeled off the tree as they ran.

Below, the spiders attempting to climb the tree were slowed down by the falling debris, but they continued, undaunted.

Link continued shredding his way up the tree, and when they got to the top, he leapt off with such force, he jerked everybody clean off the tree after him. They landed on another tree, and they landed sideways on it, and then they all kicked off together, going twice as fast as they were on the ground. They shot between trees, one by one, jumping harder and faster each time.

They landed on a somewhat thin tree in comparison to the others, and they kicked off it so hard, it fell over and smashed the spiders that were crawling after them on the tree. They landed on an even taller tree than the rest, and spiraled up to the top, into the black sky. When they reached the top of the tree, they kicked off their hardest yet, and flew off into the blackness at unbelievable speed.

The spiders gnashed their mouth parts angrily, and a few shot webs after the smashers, but even then, they were too far away.

The smashers flew above the grey rush of color below, with their arms spread out. They soared above the forest, and everything seemed to slow down to them as they drifted on, floating through the air like wraiths in a world frozen in time.

Ahead, the bulk of a giant black mountain loomed in front of them…The Black Crag.

Beyond that, there were huge plains, and beyond that stretched the black sky. On the horizon, was a grayish light, all around.

The world below was strange and foreign, but they were one step closer to finding the forest of origin.

The final task that stood between them and destiny was the cursed mountain they hurtled towards.

The Black Crag.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**So…what do you think? Next chapter will be a big battle, but against what?**

**YOU, my reader friends, get to find out some other time. Sorry, but this is as far as I go:O**

**Today, THIS chapter, at least! I'm going to work and write some more, but don't expect another updatie today.**

**See ya!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	15. VS Gaia Part I

**YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!**

**Thank you everybody that's reviewed! It's good to see some of me friends back.**

**I'm glad everybody's…err, enjoying themselves…Sorry about the spiders, but there's something I'd like ta say.**

**Ya might not've noticed, because lotsa spiders are black and stuff, but them darn things were demons.**

**DEMON SPIDERS.**

**And also, some of the smasher's abilities were rendered useless in this dimension, because:**

**1: It is a dead world, and magic NO LONGER EXISTS, because there is no life to draw power from**

**2: since the world was so old and time ceased to exist, the Master Sword had no power here**

**3: like above, there was no such thing as energy, rendering things like Fox's blaster, and Matt's arm cannon useless.**

**4: and other stuff.**

**You get the picture, I'm sure.**

**Now, before I continue ranting and boring you to death, I'll cough up the story now.**

**SPLAT!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The smashers hurtled towards the big, black spire of stone, with no indication of slowing down.

As they got closer and closer, the mountain seemed to expand and stretch, shooting way into the heaven-less expanse, and to the forever-stretching horizon. It was like a wall of sheer rock had grown up from the ground, defying space, and furthermore, ultimately barring their way to their objective.

They only just noticed the big, yawning gap of a hole they were headed towards.

"Brace yourselves!" Link yelled.

Everybody curled up into a protective position as they shot into the huge cave. They flew through the deep blackness inside, and slammed into giant stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

Effectively stopped in their tracks, the smashers dropped from the rocky spikes, and fell to the floor in a cloud of loose rocks. Miraculously unhurt, everybody jumped back up, and looked about the dark cave they were in.

There was a very faint, grey light which seemed to emanate from an all-present source, so there was no way to trace the light's position.

At least there was light.

"We'd be SCREWED if this place was dark." Ness said. Luigi was nearby, still curled into a fetal position. Paul walked over to him to help him up, but Luigi was quite firm about staying on the ground.

"Hmm, if this is the Black Crag, then we're just a step away from accomplishing our goal." Matt said thoughtfully.

"DUH, it's the Black Crag." Paul sighed. "It looks like we'll have to go up if we want to escape."

"Yeah, if you look up…" Fox said. "…We're at the bottom of a huge tower like formation."

"I see what you mean." Link said. "That sure is a long way…"

"No problem." Matt said. "We can jump."

"ALL THE WAY!?!?!?"

"No, no. Just, jump across a few ledges, and maybe in five minutes, we'll be at the top!"

"Ok, I WILL strangle you if this doesn't work!" Fox insisted.

"What if we die?" Matt asked coyly.

"I'll find a way around it." Fox said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was impossible to see at the bottom of the inside of the mountain, but at the top, there was a large hole that opened up right to the peak.

The smashers jumped their way up to the top, and when they finally escaped the interior of the mountain, they stood in what looked like a crater, but the side facing the endless plains below them was blown out, crating a type of balcony. A LARGE one.

"Well, look at that." Fox said. "…Nothing."

"No Forest of Origin." Link said.

"Maybe we ARE screwed!" Matt exclaimed.

RUMBLE

The ground shook, and everybody was thrown to their feet.

"Ok, that was the first real noise we've heard since we came here." Paul said. "And it didn't sound good."

"It looks even WORSE!" Luigi wailed.

Everybody whirled around, and came face to face with the biggest red eye they had ever seen in their lives.

There was something behind them, but it was huge. It blended in with the stone around them, and the eye was the size of a bus, long ways. There was a white circle in the middle of the eye, and it swiveled around and took in the tiny figures.

A great eyelid made of black rock rolled down and covered the eye, and it looked at the smashers a second time. Then, with a deep shake, the eye rose into the sky, and a massive, human shaped body made of rock followed it up into the sky. It lacked legs, and was really just a flying torso with huge, craggy arms, and a thin head with a big eye inside.

The ground rumbled violently as the creature pounded the ground, then it flew at the smashers like a ghost, all the while the ground beneath it shook violently.

Heading back down the hole was not an option, so the smashers took door # 2.

They jumped.

Over the edge of the cliff they flew, then they ran down the side of the endless cliff, with the great stone demon riding on their tails.

It swung its arms like windmills, pounding the cliff and breaking huge chunks of it free. The pieces of mountain fell down in an avalanche, chasing after the smashers and gaining speed every second.

The bottom suddenly came zooming up at them from below, so they kicked off with all their might, and flew towards the plains.

The rock slide crashed to the ground with a huge, earth shattering CRASH, and when the smashers landed on the ground, they continued running for their lives, with the demon still chasing them, pounding the ground.

It pounded the ground so hard, chunks of it would fly into the air, and when it swung its fist at the ground again, it would hit the rocks. The rocks flew at the running heroes, and forced them to zigzag as they dodged the storm of rock.

Gaia finally caught up with Kirby in the rear, and aimed to smash him, but the Dreamlander leapt into the air, and landed on the fist. Kirby ran up the arm and jumped at the head, and swung his hammer at the eye.

His hammer bounced off harmlessly, and so did Kirby. He screamed as he fell towards the ground, and the swinging fists and rocks, but Fox dashed into the air after him, and saved him from being crushed to death.

Gaia stopped pounding the ground, but then its arms started to revolve around its body like a fan. Soon its arms were blurs that beat on the air, and somehow it whipped up a whirlwind. The debris scattered from its tantrum flew into the tornado, and shot into the air as it continued to spin after the smashers.

The wind was so strong, they were sucked into the vortex to be battered by flying stones. They kicked off rocks that flew towards them, when Paul had a brilliant idea.

"Hey, what if we kicked the rocks towards the demon's eye?" Paul asked.

"That just might work!" Fox exclaimed.

Ness was right next to a rock, and he tested it out. He kicked off the rock when it was between him and the demon's eye, and the stone smashed into the rock monster's face with a crash.

Gaia stopped spinning its arms for a moment, which caused everybody to drop out of the air. It sat there and held its head, then Matt picked up a large boulder nearby, and tossed it at the hands wrapped around its head. One of the hands smashed to powder, and revealed the red eye beneath. Fox threw another rock at it, but it closed its eyelid lazily and blocked the attack. Unfortunately for it, its eyelid shattered. Link tossed one more rock, and the blow knocked the demon flat on its back.

Kirby inhaled a massive load of rocks, then he ran over to Gaia and jumped on its head. He inhaled deeply again, then he spit out the rocks like a machine gun, right into the big red eye. Kirby emptied his load on the demon's eye, and just as he finished Gaia came back to its senses, and sat up really fast. Kirby flew off, screaming, and everybody else ran after him while Gaia got back up and started pounding the ground again.

This time rocks flew both ways.

The smashers caught a few of the rocks and tossed them back at the demon as they ran, sometimes smashing a bit of his arms off, or maybe the occasional lucky hit that struck his eye.

Kirby sucked in a few rocks as they came at him, and when Gaia stopped to spin again, Kirby shot a stream of stones into its eye and knocked it over again. He then picked up a rock as he ran back towards the demon's head, and when he got the rock on the demon's eye again, he shot up into the air in a massive jump, then shot back down at incredible speed and drove the stone right into the demon's eye, shattering it like glass.

There was a flash and everything froze, then slowly, everybody disintegrated into particles of light, and vanished without a trace.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Short chapter, but there's a reason for that.**

**Anyways, next chapter will be very important, and at a date sometime soon, this fight will continue. It is NOT over, as it may seem.**

**Now, I bid thee adieu, and do not be mad. Please?**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	16. VS Gaia Part II

**I probably should have just kept writing last chapter.**

**I had a bit of a kerfuffle trying to decide what to do next, but I have all that sorted out now!**

**SO…I appreciate the reviews, everybody! Let's get this started!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

_You cannot fight on strength alone._

FLASH!!!

The smashers rematerialized, and upon re-entering the dimension, Time's gears started turning again.

Everybody felt their power flooding back into their body, and in a flash, everybody had their weapons drawn.

Matt was holding the Master Emerald blade, Fox was dual wielding his gun and Krystal's staff, Paul had the Excalibur form of his sword, Kirby had his Star rod, Pichu's body was shining with a shower of sparks, Link's sword was glowing with an intense light and he had on his magic armor, Luigi was armed with the Thor Hammer, and Ness, although he hadn't unlocked his power yet, gained a temporary energy boost.

_You are outmatched! You must band together and share your powers, or all hope will be lost!_

"Who's there!?!?" Matt yelled. Everybody else was looking around curiously for the source of the voice.

_Chosen heroes of light, The future is dark, but together, light shall prevail._

Gaia screeched angrily, and finally found the strength to fly back into the air. In its head, beneath the shattered red stone, there was a real flesh and blood eye rolling about in fury, looking for the miniscule warriors that dared to strike back at it.

Its eyes locked on the team, and the demon let loose such a high pitched groaning, the ground around shook and cracked like there was an earthquake.

_FIGHT!_

Fox shrugged when Link looked at him, then everybody rushed at the stone demon, weapons drawn and at the ready.

Since time was no longer frozen, they couldn't quite pull off their superhuman feats of strength and speed. They ran after the demon, which flew backwards away from them at the same speed as before, which was too fast for them to catch.

"Maybe this will help." Paul said. "Hastega!"

A whirl of red roman numerals flashed around the party as they ran, then when the numerals disappeared with a flash, time speed up double for everybody affected. They zoomed off after the demon, which they slowly started to catch up to.

Gaia spun around like a whirlwind, and segments of its arms broke off and shot at them. Link jumped forwards and destroyed the debris with a spiraling spin attack then Matt fired a huge burst of chaos energy from his gun. Gaia's arms regenerated, and it raised a hand to block the blow. Kirby shot a piercing star shaped ray from his wand, and it struck the demon in the eye, making it scream in pain. Ness followed up with PSI Rocking and bombarded the demon with exploding balls of energy, and Luigi followed up with a powerful gust of ice expelled from his vacuum.

Although in a major degree of pain, Gaia was far from dead. It heaved itself back up from off the ground for the second time, and roared even louder. Its body started glowing slightly red, then the cracks between the boulders that made up its body started glowing red. It expelled a huge amount of heat, and streams of fire erupted from its body.

"Uh oh. Not good." Paul grimaced.

"Put the sucker on ice." Fox said.

_Use your inner power…_

"Blizzaga!"

"PK Freeze!"

Matt fired a charged burst of ice energy, Link fired an ice arrow, Luigi fired more ice from his vacuum, Fox fired a cloud of icy wind from his staff, and Kirby wished up a howling gale of snow.

The gigantic wave of cold slammed into the rock demon, and cooled its hot body down to zero degrees. It fell over immobilized, and Pichu ran over to it and shocked its eye with Thoron.

Gaia shattered the ice imprisoning its body, then it knocked Pichu away with a brutal swipe of its hand. It slammed the ground with all of its might, and the ground turned into one huge ripple.

"Oh sna-" Ness was cut short as the wall of earth slammed into the party, knocking them way back and flipping them over and over until the ground stopped heaving. Everybody got back up, black with bruises, and a few sporting cuts and bloody noses.

_Combine your power!_

"Limit attacks!" Paul yelled, comprehension dawning on him.

"WHAT!?!?" Everybody shouted in confusion.

"Team up, and combine your powers with somebody else!" Paul said.

"That's what we've been doing!" Luigi yelled.

"Not this way!" Paul said. "Fox! Link!"

The two ran forwards, and before they could argue, Paul spun Link around with his back to Fox, and Paul did the same on the other side. A ring of magic bound them together, then Paul said:

"Fox! Use that rocket spell!" Paul said.

"Oh!" Fox said. He focused his energy into the staff, which started glowing blue. Fox released the energy, and the trio shot way up into the air. Gaia stopped and charged up its heat body again, then fired a jet of fire at the team. Paul absorbed his super powerful magic sword, and summoned up an impenetrable bubble of energy while charging up both his partners. Link's sword burst into holy flames, and Fox's staff glowed a bright blue. Paul kept up the barrier, and Fox guided the bubble over to Gaia.

Link unleashed a light speed combo, and sent waves of light flying at the stone demon. He then executed a spin attack and created a halo of light around the bubble, and drove right into the demon and hit it like a buzz saw. Fox fired a bunch of magic spells from his staff and attacked skillfully with the blades on it while Paul used a continuous barrage of magic spells. Gaia busied itself with blocking the attacks, but it was quickly starting to wear down.

Finally, the team stepped it up a notch. Link activated the Triforce of courage and sparked the team with a huge boost of power, and they flew backwards and bombarded the demon with a storm of light waves, lasers, and wind cutters at very high speed.

"Aura laser!" The trio cried. Paul and Link put their hands on Fox's staff, which glowed a very powerfully bright blue, and the three pumped all their remaining energy into one power reserve. Paul put all of the energy of his sword into the staff, Link lent it the power of the Triforce and the Master Sword, then Fox focused his energy into the staff, and channeled it to the end aimed at the demon. A huge ball of blue energy gathered, then a ridiculously powerful ray of energy in its purest form erupted from the spear, and actually knocked the demon off balance while burning a hole in its body. The whole world went dark, and all the light came from the blue beam, which burnt a hole in Gaia in about five seconds.

The demon stumbled backwards, and the beam continued burning its body up.

The beam finally faded, and the trio fell back to the ground, their whole magic reserves used up.

"That was awesome!" Link said. "But I'm tired now…"

"I've never done something like that before." Fox said.

"I thought you'd like it." Paul said. "Think what else we could do!"

"Let us try something!" Ness pleaded.

"I have an idea!" Luigi cried. "Matt, Pichu, Ness, Kirby, help me!"

The four ran over to Luigi, who tossed his hammer waaaaaaaay into the air!

"Thunder!" Luigi cried. He waggled his finger in the air, and a bolt of lightning struck the hammer, which exploded into a black cloud. Matt fired a storm of thunder bullets into the cloud, and everybody else struck the storm cloud with lightning. The clouds flashed violently and absorbed the energy like a sponge, while creating ominous crackling.

Pichu cast Thoron as a finisher, and the cloud condensed inside the orb of lightning, creating a swirling black mass of shocking terror. Luigi sprung into the sphere and absorbed it into his body, and a super powerful Thor Hammer appeared in his hand.

The five were enveloped in a cloud of sparks and tripled their peed, then they rushed at Gaia and pounded on him with blows that fell like thunder, loud and devastating.

Luigi swung his hammer and sent swirling storm clouds at Gaia, and upon impact the clouds blasted him with a storm of lightning. Then he and the others flew around in a circle, and called down a continuous storm of lightning that shocked the demon into convulsions.

Luigi leapt way into the air one final time, and a swirl of black storm clouds spiraled and powered his hammer for the final blow, and he threw it down like a lightning bolt. The hammer hit Gaia like a thunderbolt, and a huge lightning charged explosion enveloped Gaia, followed by one last violent battering of lightning bolts.

Gaia raised its arm one last time to swat at Luigi as he landed, but it stopped mid swing and fell to the ground with a crash, and moved no more.

"He's had enough." Matt said as the demon's red eye faded down to glow like a small ember.

The demon exploded and scattered rocks everywhere, and a pile of black ooze sank into the ground, erasing the demon from existence.

_You have slayed the demon…but do you really have what it takes?_

"Ok, come out and reveal yourself!" Fox yelled.

In answer, a portal opened up, a rift full of light. Everybody was blinded by looking into it, but it seemed obvious enough, that whatever they were looking for was behind the veil of light.

_Enter, and be enlightened._

That was just what the smashers did. Somehow, they knew they were finally on to something.

They walked into the portal, one by one, and each vanished with a flash. Link was the last to enter, and after he entered, the portal flashed one last time before vanishing.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Sorry for the short chapters…They'll be longer when I have more stuff to do.**

**Anyways, there's no need to talk about what happened. You'll find out soon enough!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	17. Forest of Origin

**Ok, nothing to say really, just that I'm glad everybody's enjoying this so far! Thank you for the reviews, too!**

**Now, to start!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The smashers drifted about in an endless white expanse, and as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished, and dropped them onto a soft forest floor.

Everybody bounced right back up on their feet and looked about at the new area, which was very welcoming after what they had been through.

It was a fresh, lively little glade of trees, and everything was very green, and bright and full of vigor. The air sparkled with energy here and there, and above, there was a clear blue sky above the thick layer of leaves, keeping the forest very comfortable.

The smashers looked about for a few moments, before Link spoke up.

"Whatever we're looking for, it's here."

"You think so?" Fox asked.

"I KNOW so…Somehow." Link said.

"Right." Matt said. "Let's stay close together. This place could still be dangerous."

"Do you EVER loosen up?" Paul asked.

"Do you?" Matt retorted.

Paul failed to reply.

"Anyways…This place isn't all that big." Matt said, waving his hand at the small circular clearing they were in. Ahead of them was a small pathway that lead to a slightly larger clearing.

The smashers walked through the open space, and into the new clearing.

It was twice as large as the clearing they just came from, and there was an open space above them, a hole in the leafy layer above. In front of them was a large tree in the middle of the clearing. The tope towered above the rest of the forest, but compared to the trees in the forest of emptiness, it was tiny. It was about as high as a two story house.

Everybody looked around at the new surroundings, and were about to converse more when there was a flash all around the clearing. A wall of light shot up around the perimeter, and then there was a crash.

The team whipped around, and watched as a human sized black crystal statue stood up, and brandished a black crystal axe.

"Crud." Ness said.

Everybody drew their weapons, and Obsidian stepped forwards and swung at them with the axe at amazing speeds. The air thrummed as the axe sailed over their heads when they ducked, then they zoomed in and blasted the demon back. Obsidian staggered backwards, but regained its balance and slashed the ground vertically.

A big fissure opened up, and the resulting shaking shook the smashers off their feet, and they plunged into the hole. Obsidian jumped in after them.

They landed in a dome-shaped rock room, and when Obsidian landed, it brandished its axe again, and went after the smashers even fiercer than before

_The evil you see before you, is what threatens the central world._ A voice said inside the smasher's heads. _The demons seek to extinguish all light, by swallowing it up in the darkness of evil._

"But…" Fox said.

_Six of you are tainted by darkness: it grows within you, consumes you, and reduces you to this…_

Everybody looked at the big black statue in front of them, and the new information hit them like a wrecking ball.

Fox's eye shot way open, and he clutched his heart, which beat rapidly under his chest. "You mean we're going to become…evil!?!? After all of this, we'll become our own enemies?"

_Worry not, heroes of light. This is the fate of those that welcome the darkness. You, like those that fight it, are inevitably going to become stained…But all is not lost. You are protected._

"How so?" Paul asked warily, eyeing the formidable demon.

_Your weapons. They weaken as you become more stained, but you gain powers in other ways…_

"How can we keep our weapons from weakening?" Luigi asked. "We need them!"

_Seek your inner light, and strengthen yourselves. Fight the darkness, but do not be afraid of it. Shine brightly with your light, and protect it and strengthen it. The Tree of Knowledge has spoken._

"Huh!?!?" Everybody shouted.

"POYO!" Kirby squeaked.

"DOH!" Ness ducked under another axe swing just before he lost his head, then he bashed Obsidian with his bat. He still didn't scratch it.

Matt switched to light bullets, and shot a few streaks at the statue, but they still glanced off. "This thing is really starting to me off!" Matt yelled.

Obsidian swung the axe a few more times and sent out waves of darkness, which everybody dodged with ease. The fight was at a standstill, with neither side inflicting any damage.

"This demon's darkness is overwhelming…" Paul said. "What can we do?"

"Overwhelming darkness…" Link muttered. "Hey! I got it! Fight it with overwhelming _LIGHT!_"

"Huh?!"

"If we fight together, instead of just randomly attacking it, we might win. We need to do another Limit attack!" Link cried.

"Poyo!"

"Ok!" Matt said.

The two jumped away from the rest of the group as they engaged Obsidian, and they charge dup their energy.

Matt's gun glowed with a powerful blue aura, and the barrel on his gun started revolving really fast, making a whirring sound. Kirby exhaled, then inhaled deeply, causing a huge gale.

Using the Emerald blade's power, Matt fired a rapid stream of various charged elemental shots, right into Kirby's gaping mouth. Kirby absorbed the energy into his stomach, and after absorbing a ridiculous amount of energy, Matt tossed his sword into Kirby's mouth. Kirby then tossed in his own Star Rod, and swallowed the massive amount of energy.

His body instantly transformed into pure crystal, and inside his body there was a swirling mass of rainbow colored energy. His body glowed with a rainbow colored aura.

He raised a clear hand, and there was a bright flash. Matt floated up into the air, surrounded by a rainbow aura himself, with star energy radiating from him.

They both shot into the air and high-fived each other, then began their assault on Obsidian.

Matt fired a stream of super charged bullets, while Kirby dual wielded the Star rod and Emerald blade, now both made of clear crystal.

Obsidian swung its axe at the duo, but Kirby blocked the swing and parried, knocking the statue off balance. Matt swooped in and released a surge of light, which made black smoke come off the statue. Kirby swapped places with Matt and hacked away with his weapons while causing explosions of energy, while Matt hovered behind him, and fired charged energy shots at every inch of demon he could poke a stick at.

They quickly shot backwards and focused for a second, then called down a massive maelstrom of chaotic energy. The demon was bashed around by huge fiery explosions, gigantic ice spikes, massive thunder strikes, damaging whorls of wind, rays of light, pillars of water, and bursts of darkness.

Matt and Kirby released a few more shows of fireworks, and charged up for a finisher.

"SPARKLE RAY!"

"PYOOO!!!!"

They two smashers flashed brightly, and Kirby raised his star rod and the Emerald blade one last time. He muttered a quick wish, and Matt's furiously crackling gun nearly exploded from the strain of energy being put on it.

The blue metal flashed wildly, displaying a myriad of colors.

Then his gun fired a gigantic rainbow colored ray, and the kickback threw him and Kirby into the wall. They stayed smashed against the wall as the beam surged out, and hit Obsidian with super powerful beams.

The demon's body gave off a large amount of black steam as its body slowly evaporated. The beam faded, and showed the demon still standing there, but it was very thin, and wobbly. It raised its axe to attack again, just as the aura faded around the two smashers and Kirby returned to normal. Link dashed over at a quick pace, and intercepted the swing. He blocked the axe and caused it to glance off and hit the wall above his head, then he stabbed forwards and split the demon in half with a well aimed thrust.

The two halves of the black demon crashed to the ground and released a huge cloud of black vapor, which hung in the air like smoke.

"Uh oh…" Fox said.

_The time has come to learn about darkness, and the blood that stains light._

The black smoke gathered from the ceiling around them, and into the already existing cloud, forming a thick, impenetrable haze. The cloud rushed at the smashers and at the last second it split in half.

The cloud collided with Luigi and Paul, and the two smashers were thrown back by the force of the collision. Both of them writhed on the floor and gagged, holding their throats as if they were choking. They slowly went pale, and the others ran up to help them out, but there was nothing they could do. The two were as cold as ice, and within moments they were unconscious on the floor, senseless.

"…What'd you do!?!?" Link yelled angrily, up towards the tree.

_To fight against the darkness, one must know what it is…It is for the best._

_It is a curse, and yet, a blessing._

_You must find out for yourself what you can do._

At this, a giant black swirling cloud appeared in the fissure above their heads, and darkened the room as the light was blocked out. In the darkness there was a faint light around the smashers, but everything else had become black.

All at once, everybody fell over as they were all inflicted with a terrible freezing pain in their chests, and it slowly spread throughout their bodies. Even Paul and Luigi were thrashing about in their unconsciousness, as their nerves were wracked by pain.

There was a thunk, and three more statues appeared, all brandishing huge axes.

"I am…Going to kill…that tree." Fox gasped.

Paul and Luigi woke up with a scream, and everybody sat there, breathing heavily as the darkness pressed in on them, and slowly snuffed out their life.

"Must use…all our power…to live…" Ness gasped, as the breath left his body.

"One…" Matt said.

"Two…" Luigi said.

"THREE!"

Everybody focused their energy into a space in front of them, and a pulsing sphere of light formed. It was weak, and flickery .

"MORE!" Link roared. Everybody unleashed their inner strength, and focused all their power into the sphere. The darkness condensed around it to squash it and put it out, but the light grew in size, and continued to swell.

There was a flash, and the light suddenly compressed down to nothingness, then everybody was blown out of consciousness by a huge bright explosion, and everything went white.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ok, that's it for now. Next chapter will be a break from the fighting, for shiz.**

**Anyways, sorry it took me so long to update. I just wasn't in the mood, then I was. Know what I mean?**

**Well, see you all next time! Expect 'nother update this week, sometime.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	18. Inner Darkness

**Har, short notes. AS USUAL, I'M NOT FEELING LIKE WRITING LONG NOTES.**

**Now, I thank everybody that's reviewed! Thing are gonna start to get a little crazy here, and these eight smashers are just about to find out how powerful they are.**

**Get ready for some surprises, peeps!**

**Let's go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"I'm sick of white." Link moaned.

He and everybody else were in a white expanse, and there was an invisible floor beneath their feet.

"I said it before, and I'm not afraid to say it again, tree!" Fox yelled. "I'm going to burn the outta you if you don't stop playing with us!"

_You all are in the light._

_This is the light every one of you share as a whole: Protect it!_

WHOOSH!

There were a few spurts of black flames, and a few Sharbs appeared.

SHING!

THWIP!

BANG!

What was left of the sharbs scattered everywhere, and the black blood automatically absorbed itself into everybody's body, to their disgust. Their bodies were chilly for a few seconds, but then the feeling passed.

"Huh? Why aren't we unconscious?" Link asked.

"The light's fading!" Matt yelled.

Everybody looked around, and sure enough, the horizon was beginning to blacken.

"Pichu…" Pichu squeaked fearfully.

_Your light is fading…Let it fade too much, and you will become one of them._

WHOOSH!

A few more demons appeared, this time it was a wider variety of them.

There were two bear shaped ones, a spider, an Obsidian statue, and a few more sharbs.

Link, Fox, and Paul pulled off their Trinity Aura limit attack, and flew everywhere shooting and slashing foes at high speed. Pichu took out a sharb with a well aimed Skull bash, and Luigi smashed another sharb's chest in with his mallet.

One of the bears rushed at the hovering trio, but it was slashed into pieces by a spinning blade attack. Link, Fox, and Paul combined their energy again, and scorched the rest of the demons into nothingness with the powerful Aura ray.

Once again, the black liquid vaporized into a cloud of smoke, and absorbed itself into the smasher's bodies, making the world go even darker.

There was one final whoosh, and to everybody's chagrin, the Gargoyle and Gaia made a re-appearance, both at the same time.

Matt and Kirby combined powers again, and then they created a magic bubble around everybody else.

The tri-colored gargoyle lunged at Link with its spear, and he blocked it with his shield. It slashed at him horizontally, and he rolled under the swing and around the gargoyle, and leapt into the air to score a spinning slash across its back. He used his momentum and flipped through the air, and smashed his sword into the back of its head with a Helm Splitter, then used a full power spin attack to knock it off balance.

Matt and Kirby then shot in and caught the gargoyle's spear, and made a surge of lightning shoot down the weapon and into its holder. They flung it at Gaia with a well aimed Bowser-style toss, then released a series of Destructive elemental explosions and finished their onslaught with Sparkle Ray.

The Gargoyle split into three again, and attacked the smashers with a barrage of light, dark, and chaos attacks. A few of the attacks hit the smashers, and each time they were struck by a dark powered attack, the world went a tiny bit darker.

_Your light grows weaker, to a mere flicker. Are you able to last?_

"Grr…" Fox growled. He blocked a swing from the white gargoyle with his staff, then smashed its hand off with a brutal swing. He shot it with an icy jet of wind, and finished up with a Staff Rocket-powered Fire Fox attack. The gargoyle shattered and expelled a wisp of light, which made the world light up a little bit.

Luigi and Paul faced off against the black gargoyle, which was steadily and continuously bombarding them with dark spheres.

Luigi quickly hosed it down with ice every chance he got, and when it was stiff enough, he used his mallet's lightning to power up his Green Missile. Paul synchronized his sword swing with Luigi's super missile, and together they reduced the demon statue to black dust.

The world got dangerously dark, like it was night time.

_The darkness is strong…Why not use it?_

"HUH!?!?" Almost everybody yelled at the same time.

Link, instead of acting surprised, snapped his finger when an idea hit him like thunder.

"I have a lot I haven't told you." Link smiled, before bending down.

A cloud of black energy enveloped his body, and contorted his figure. About a second later, there was a burst of leftover dark energy, and in Link's place there was a black and white wolf with blue eyes.

"LINK!!" Fox yelled.

The wolf smiled a doggy grin, then looked up into the sky and howled.

"Poyo!" Kirby said.

"That's Link!?!?" Matt asked, shocked.

"POYO!"

Wolf Link charged up a quick bit of energy, then lunged at the grey gargoyle. It thrust its spear at him, and he spun to the side in mid-air. He landed on his feet and sprung at the gargoyle again, and before it could react, he clamped his mouth down on the spear and bit down as hard as he could. The spear shattered into two fragments, and Link leapt again and landed on the gargoyle's chest. He clamped his mouth down on its face and bit hard, and he was rewarded with a shattering noise. The gargoyle fell down on the ground headless, and Link transformed again after a flash.

After the very brief fight, the light around everybody was stronger.

"Ah hah!" Matt said. "We use up the darkness when we use our…new powers…"

"And we'll have to keep using it, to prevent ourselves from being overcome." Ness said.

Gaia, who was stupidly watching the smashers kick the gargoyle's butt, decided the time to act was now.

"PIIIII CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

There was another black flash, and Pichu's body was enveloped in a black aura of smoke.

Pichu ran at the titan, who attempted to slug the mouse with a giant fist. Pichu leapt into the air and ran up its arm with Quick attack, and when she got to its head, she summoned a black bolt of lightning that struck the demon in the eye. It roared in pain, and Pichu avoided a big hand that grabbled about after her.

"PI CHU!"

Pichu expelled little black tendrils of energy, and they stretched out like black ribbons. In a matter of seconds the demon was immobilized by black tendrils of energy.

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…………CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!" Pichu screamed.

She charged up a Skull bash attack, but it was transformed into Shadow End by the shadow aura around her. She rocketed forwards and struck the demon on the eye, and knocked it right over on its back.

It shattered upon impact, and Pichu squealed as she fell towards the messy pile of rocks. The aura faded around her, and she hit the pile of black rocks with a thud.

"Pichu…" She muttered dizzily.

_You learn quickly, smashers…_

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Fox yelled.

_Using the powers of light and dark, you shall become unstoppable to either forces. You neither dwell in the light, nor thrive in the darkness, but you stay along the path of twilight…When either side strays from its natural course…you'll be there to put things right._

"Enough with the bossing us around!" Ness said. "It's getting annoying!"

"All know it alls are annoying." Paul offered.

"Not quite so." Matt said.

"…Oops…sorry…" Paul muttered apologetically.

_Go forth…and end the madness._

FLASH!

Just like that, the smashers were back in front of the tree, staring at each other.

"Why is everything weird?" Luigi wailed.

"Poyo."

"I've been through my fair share of annoying events, but this is really starting to get to me." Link said.

"It's been fighting for us the WHOLE time since we entered this blasted dimension!" Matt yelled. "CURSE MY KNOW-IT-ALL-INGNESS!"

"Well, we're all to blame for agreeing to come here." Paul said.

"AHEM." Fox coughed, tapping the floor impatiently with his foot.

"I may as well shut up and stick my foot in my mouth!" Paul shouted. He sat down and did so.

"I HATE YOU!" Fox yelled.

The tree didn't reply.

"I feel stupid now." Fox said.

"Let's go." Link said. "We've done what we came here for."

FLASH

A rip in space opened up in front of the tree, and everybody turned around and looked at it in surprise.

The rift swirled about, then an image of Sonic and Yoshi appeared. They were inside a cell.

"That looks like a GUN jail cell." Matt remarked. "What's with all of the white markings on the walls?"

"It's writing." Paul said.

"Hey, can you hear me?" Ness yelled into the portal.

None of the people on the other side responded.

"Ya know, Yoshi, what's been happening?" Sonic asked the dino sadly. "Everything's mad now…"

"Something good'll happen soon!" Yoshi said. "GUN can't get away with the stuff they've been doing. I know we'll be rescued."

"I sure hope so." Sonic said. He got up and jogged on the spot for a bit. "I'm getting claustrophobic here already!"

"That's Sonic all right." Matt said. "But they can't hear us."

"We know they're locked up, though!" Fox said. "And in a GUN base, no less!"

"This'll be fun." Matt said. "I wonder what else we can loot there?"

"You really hate GUN, don't you?" Fox asked.

"I don't hate them, we take turns annoying each other." Matt said. "And besides, it's my turn-no, OUR turn, to do the annoying!"

"I like that!" Ness smiled mischievously.

"POYO!"

"And we can't forget the food!" Paul laughed.

"It's changing…" Luigi said.

Everybody turned around again and looked at the portal, which was rapidly flashing through many different images.

For about a fourth of a second each, the pictures flashed through the rift.

Peach standing by a pedestal with a huge star, Cloud destroying huge amounts of demons with his buster sword, Samus fighting Ridley, Captain falcon racing from a huge ship, Sora and Riku facing off against Nobodies, Seth and Vyse, Snake, Zelda, Henry, Professor E. Gadd…

Everybody's heads spun at all of the images, but it was obvious: not everybody was safe…

"POYO!"

"What do we do?" Paul asked.

"Like this tree said, it's time we sorted things out." Matt said.

"I'll second that." Link said.

"You can count on me!" Fox said.

"I'll never let my friends down." Paul said.

"(For Food!)" Kirby poyo'ed.

"Pichu!"

"As long as things aren't too scary, I'll be fine!" Luigi said.

"We'll squash this evil…WHATEVER OR WHOEVER it is!" Ness said with determination.

"Let's go!" Matt said.

The rift by the tree faded into a swirling mass of grey energy, just like the rift in the forest.

Everybody teamed up again, and easily opened up the portal with a blast of energy.

The rift opened up and revealed another black hole, but this time, instead of panicking, the smashers soared right into the distorted space, unflinching, and unyielding.

The rift closed with a sucking, whooshing noise.

_Good luck…_

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ok, here we go!**

**Now I actually have something happening! HAR!**

**Well, god night, folks. I'll update again soon, but homework comes first. Like that means anything, I can just finish it quick and good.**

**I'll see ya all next time! Have fun, and take care! Thanks for reading!**

**One last thing, next chapter…hoo, will be something of a bit of coolness! I guess…**

**It'll be a peek in at what some of the other smashers are doing, so have fun!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	19. Bad Fortune

**Ok, so far, everything's going swell!**

**School is as annoying as usual, however. Whatta pain in the bum!**

**Anyways, today we'll get to see just what kind of plight a few of the smashers are in. Ya wanna see, don'tcha? I think this is a question everybody's been wondering:**

**Where the is everybody!?!?!?**

**Well, you'll get to see that and more, so, without further ado…**

**LET'S GO!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Man, I'm BORED!" Sonic sighed.

Yoshi had outlasted his good humor, and now he was sitting in the corner of the cell, with a dejected look on his cute chubby face.

"I'm hungry." Yoshi said as his stomach rumbled fiercer than a 10 Richter scale earthquake.

"…"

"I'm so hungry, I think I will eat…" Yoshi looked about, and rested his eyes on Sonic.

"You'll have to catch me, first!" Sonic yelled in a panic. Yoshi strode over to him, and just seconds before Sonic bolted, Yoshi pushed him aside and plopped down on the floor by the bars. Without hesitating to think about the consequences, Yoshi turned his head sideways and took a big bite out of the bars.

"Wha? Have you gone insane!?!?" Sonic asked incredulously as he watched Yoshi munch away at the metal.

"Tastes…yucky! Reminds me of those vitamins Peach used to give me." Yoshi gagged. "Too irony. It could stand to be a little hotter."

Yoshi then breathed fire on the bars and heated them up a little, and then ate the hot metal. "Spicy."

Sonic watched as Yoshi demolished the bars, and after he got over his shock, said, "Yoshi! You've done it!"

"Done bwhat?" Yoshi asked, mouth full of iron.

"Exact our escape, that's what!"

Yoshi looked about for a bit, then he finally caught on.

"Wowsers!"

"Thanks to you, we can escape now." Sonic said. "I'm going to make GUN pay!"

"I'll make 'em pay for my lunch." Yoshi said.

"How's that bad?" Sonic asked.

To answer the question, Yoshi pulled out a huge, long bill from under his saddle and handed it to Sonic. His jaw dropped and hit the ground with a thud, just by reading the first inch of the money he owed.

"And I'm still paying it off." Yoshi added.

"Mercy…" Sonic gasped. "Does that much money even exist in the world!?!?!"

"Maybe on some other world." Yoshi said.

"…ANYWAYS! We need to get out of here, and fast!" Sonic said. "Those guards may come around here any minute, and we need to be clear of this place when that happens!"

"But I'm still hungry!" Yoshi whined.

"Save it for later." Sonic sighed.

"Oh, fine!" Yoshi said. He cast one last unhappy look at the unfinished cell, then bolted off after Sonic.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"What will we do, Toadsworth?" Peach asked. "This star can't protect the castle for forever. Those black beasts will get in, someday…"

"Come now, Princess!" Toadsworth said. "Everybody will lose their spirit if they see you like this, wot wot!"

"Mamma mia…"

"Mario!" Peach asked. "And Bowser!"

"Things are getting pretty rough out there." Bowser gasped. "I'm wearing out…"

"Funny…after all we've been through, we're finally fighting together for once." peach said.

"Peach…I turned from that ages ago." Bowser said.

"But-a you still have your moments!" Mario added, unhelpfully.

"If I wasn't your friend, I'd smush ya like a bug. But I'm too tired to do it or even care." Bowser sighed.

"…There's still no sign of Yoshi or Luigi?" Peach asked sadly.

For once, Mario's face was screwed up with sorrow, and he couldn't help it as a tear leaked out from his eye. "N-None…"

"What is this world coming to?" Peach asked. "Everything's gone wrong since that day we started battling against Dhaos. Do you think he could have returned from the dead?"

"…He-a couldn't have." Mario whispered. "He…I…I destroyed him…Even though he was our enemy…I wish I could have helped him…"

"Losing one's whole family, and his homeworld must have been too much for the guy to handle." Bowser said.

"…Sob…You guys are killing me." Toadsworth sobbed, before leaving the room.

"There's nothing we can do now, but hope somebody will come and save us." Peach said.

"I'll fight to the bitter end." Mario said. "I-a can't let anybody else-a suffer!"

"The same goes for me. Nobody messes with me, OR my friends, and gets away with it."

Peach gave the two a thankful, teary smile, then turned back to the starman on the pedestal, which was starting to grow ever so slightly dim.

"Please…somebody help us…" Peach silently wished.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!"

Samus jumped back as Riddley charged at her, wings stretched out and clawed hands aimed at her body.

He was at least five times as massive as he was before.

It didn't help any that the federation was after her.

_ those fools! They sided with GUN, when they signed that formal alliance._

The world order was fine before they intervened.

She was in the hangar of one of the federation ships. Somehow, they had weakened her enough and captured her, but she had her ways. She escaped, only to be attacked when the whole fleet of federation ships was attacked by space pirates.

_"Everybody's after me!"_ Samus cursed mentally.

Then, she got the call from the federation leader himself. Supposedly, He said she would be cleared of all charges, if she helped capture her friends and turned them in. Of course she stayed silent. That was when the space pirates attacked.

Everything was a whirl inside her mind as she battled the demonic Space Pirate leader. He went after her with a vengeance, screeching and roaring like a dinosaur. Try as she might, she wasn't really getting anywhere fighting him. The Space pirates were really after her skin this time, though! That much she knew was certain.

Everything else…WHO was in the right, and who was in the wrong?

She just might take up that man on his mad offer, just to give herself a few seconds to think alone…

BLAM BLAM BLAM!

Samus fired charged power beam after charged power beam, but the scaly devil eluded the shots and snaked towards her, before ramming his foot claws into her chest in a double kick.

Despite the strong energy shielding on her suit, the wind was still knocked out of her, and she fell backwards. She fell down a hole and the walls shot past her as she fell down a huge shaft and Riddley didn't hesitate to pursue.

He flapped towards her, and both of the fighters gained momentum as they continued to free-fall.

Samus continued firing missiles at the space pirate until he flapped up next to her and drove her into the wall with a fierce head butt. He grinded her against the walls, creating a huge shower of sparks as Samus' shields plummeted at a record rate. She blasted the space pirate in the face with a super missile and he let her loose with a loud surprised roar. She kicked off the wall and flew at him while spinning in her deadly Screw attack, then slammed into him and pounded a few thousand volts of lightning into his body. She planted a Power bomb on his chest and kicked off, then bombarded him with a shower of Annihilator beams. Riddley yelled in anger as the power bomb enveloped him and scorched him, but he pushed against the explosion and rammed his fist into Samus' face, sending her flying back with a cracked visor and a bleeding nose. He followed up with a swift bash from his wings, then swatted her away with his claws and finished with a well aimed burst of flame.

Samus was losing it. She was so frustrated in her mind, and so tired, she felt herself slipping from consciousness, nearly oblivious to the warnings echoing inside her helmet.

SHIELDS AT 2 AND DROPPING. SHIELDS CRITICAL.

Riddley snatched her out of the air with a claw, and slowly drew her towards his mouth, where he was going to finish her off with a bite to the head.

Samus snapped back to her senses and fired a super missile down his throat. He burped in surprise, then screamed as an explosion shredded his insides up. He spat Samus out in a shower of gore, and continued to scream, holding his throat. Samus kicked off the wall again and kicked him in the head, and socked him really hard with her cannon. He continued to scream with his jaw wide open, and Samus propelled herself to his mouth. Before he could react, Samus fired another super missile into his stomach. She wedged herself in-between his jaws, which Riddley was now too weak to smash her with.

They exited the shaft and were now at the heart of the federation ship, and way below, a huge reactor glowed below. Riddley's eyes started to glaze over as the explosions took their toll, and Samus was too busy with her gory job to notice the blue glow above.

Samus fired one last super missile, which finished Riddley off quickly. Samus kicked off him and activated her jets, and watched as he fell towards the massive reactor.

Then, it hit her like a wave of magma. Pain washed over her body like never before. The alarms screeched in her helmet. The shields went down in a flash, and she felt herself submerged in her suit by some type of fluid, which burned her body. The suit sparked and cracked, then locked up and failed completely. Samus watched in horror as she hurtled towards the reactor, and closed her eyes as the pain overwhelmed her nerves. She screamed one last blood curdling shout, before she slammed into the reactor.

Stars exploded in her eyes as she boiled inside her suit, and just as quick as it happened, everything went black.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Pant Pant They just keep coming…" Cloud gasped.

"We can't give up.:" Meta Knight said.

Both he and Cloud were sporting horrible wounds: Cloud has a few deep gashes in his sides and his back. Meta Knight's wings were slashed and his right wing broken, and his mask had a couple of deep gouges in it. Cloud also had a wing sticking from his back, a black, slightly demonic one, a sign of darkness poisoning.

Meta knight spiraled into the air and swooped down, cleaving his was through a few demons, and ignored the white hot pain in his wings. He landed with his sword out behind his back, then he spun around on his foot, slicing enemies as he spun like a whirlwind. Cloud charged his way over to Meta knight, slashing and hacking tons of foes down with clean swipes of his sword, then fought back to back with his winged friend.

"Shuttle loop!" Meta knight said. He backflipped into the air, slicing foes to bits as he took to the sky, and Cloud, with a bit of difficulty, took off after him. They flew over the hoards of demons, barely knowing where they were headed.

The land was black and desolate, but way above, the sky glowed with golden clouds and a bright sky.

"If only we could reach yon clouds…" Meta Knight panted.

"I think that's angel land." Cloud said. "I've been up there before."

"I remember." Meta Knight said. "No need to say anymore. We must focus on our escape…"

The demons washed up against them like a fierce ocean wave, and they were forced to fight for their lives once again.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"How's the supplies?" Snake asked Zelda.

"We're doing…decent." Zelda said. "Yes, if you don't mind having seaweed soup!"

"Yuck."

Snake pushed the offending bowl of boiled seaweed away, and sat up against the rock wall with a pained grunt. His arm was in a sling, and his headband was lopsided as it held a rag against a large head wound above his left brow.

He, Zelda, Henry, Vyse, and Seth were inside a bluish cave. It was shaped like a tower. They were up against the circular wall, which was just across from a great big water channel, the width of a bus. It spiraled up around the walls of the room, from way above, and the water flowed into a circular, inner type of pool at least twenty feet deep.

They were inside the Lakebed temple beneath Lake Hylia, and that in itself was a great feat. Nobody was going to get them down there, except for maybe some of those black creatures, they appeared every once in a while.

Zelda sighed impatiently as Snake plastered a dour expression on his face.

"…If two certain people were good enough at catching fish, we could have some real food." Zelda said insultingly.

"I think it's enough of a consolation that there's ANY food at all. Even though we can't quite catch it, it's there." Vyse retorted.

"C'mon, we're doing our best. We can't help it the slimeballs are…well, slimy!" Seth said.

"You two oughta try something else, if what you're doing doesn't work." Henry suggested. "If one thing doesn't work, try another!"

DING! A light turned on above Vyse's head. "Hey, Zelda, do you have any string?"

"No…"

"I think this will do nicely." Snake said.

YANK!

Zelda screamed in pain, and Snake sat there triumphantly, holding a bit of her hair. "Here, tie this up and make yourselves a string, it'll do ya a world of good."

Zelda sat there, holding the tears in from the pain of having her hair pulled out. "SnaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" She roared. Snake had no time to react, and she slapped him really hard across the face, which caused his head wound to open up again."

"Oh…" Zelda sighed in frustration. She tended to Snake's wound, while they both glowered at each other.

The three other guys slowly shrunk away from the two, who were very clearly bad tempered. Vyse grabbed a piece of driftwood he had at hand, and watched at Seth slowly tied together a strong, knotted thread woven from Zelda's hair. Henry offered the hooked ear ring he had in his right ear, and after a few more moments, the extremely crude fishing pole was finished. Vyse cast the string out into the water, and the trio did their best to ignore the bitter bickering that echoed throughout the room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**As all of you can see, this is but a fraction of everybody.**

**NOBODY DIED WHILE MAKING THIS CHAPTER.**

**And, everybody else is alive as well, but whether they're doing well of not is for you to find out, when the time comes.**

**Tell me what ya think, and Kudos to everybody! Already this story has hit 100 reviews! That's a new record for any of my stories, and, of course it's greatly appreciated!**

**Good luck everybody, and take care! I'll see ya soon.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	20. The First Lead: Metal Harbor

**'So far, things are pretty good.**

**I got off easy for homework today: NOTHING.**

**So yesh, naturally, I am here, flaunting my spare time writing stories when I have nothing better to do.**

**That is why today I provide you with yet another chappy-ter. **

**Anyhow, I think anybody that likes the Sonic Adventure series will enjoy the next few chapters to come. There will be the odd twist here and there, but I will do my best to satisfy you, the readers.**

**(Minor note: Pity, I personally think some of the dialogue could have been done better on the game, but other than that, it's AWESOME.)**

**NOW, I do believe I am right when I say you people want to get on with the story, righto, me buckoes?**

**Yeah, I thought so.**

**Let's go, but before we do that, thank you everybody for reviewing! I hope stuff turns out good for you and everything, and that school will ease up a little for all of you.**

**Let's-a go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The wormhole opened up with a whoosh, and spewed the smashers out in a heap.

They landed on dusty leaves, and when they got back up and dusted each other off, they found themselves back in the forest where they first fought the Trinity Gargoyle.

"POYOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Kirby yelled.

"He's hungry…" Link said.

"That's an understatement." Fox said, looking at Kirby nervously out of the corner of his eye. Kirby was looking mutinous.

"Let's get back to the ship. We know the way out, so we'll be able to get through here fine, I think." Paul said.

"It's only a day's good march if we push ourselves."

"PoyO!" Kirby yelled angrily.

"I don't taste good, Kirby, so your threat falls dead on my ears." Fox said. "We'll get you food when we can, ok buddy?"

"Poy! YOYOING!" Kirby said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Really late that day (It was actually the same day they entered the portal, no time had passed inside the other dimension.) They got back to Crazy and the ship.

They welcomed the fresh cool air outside the forest, and they were now all properly tired and hungry.

"Well, howdy doody, smashers!" Crazy called out happily. "The sun was loverly outside! Too bad you went and stayed inside all two or so days long!"

"Poyo!" Kirby yelled, in a grouchy mood.

"Cheeky." Crazy hand said in a disappointed tone. "Well, how did it go?"

"I'll get that tree someday." Fox declared.

"He annoys me too." Crazy said. "Show him who's boos, and he won't be so body anymore."

"What should I do next time then?" Fox asked.

"Definitely don't shoot him with bullets or lasers. Master Hand spanked me both times." Crazy said carelessly.

"I'm not gonna even ask how it's possible for you to be spanked." Fox whispered.

"Just tell the tree:"Don't joo get all 'igh and might with me! I'll cut yer down te size, ye wee laddie! ARR!"

"Quit horsing around, Crazy, and let us in. We're famished!" Matt said.

"OHH! Duh duh duh duh…" Crazy trailed on, and smacking noises could be heard. The door opened up, and the smashers walked in and shut the hatch.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link and the rest of the crew walked into the cockpit, and they saw Eagun was up, watching Crazy beating himself up with the internet connection window.

"He's really quite funny, if not strange." Eagun said, turning around with a smile on his face.

"I guess you know who we all are, and there's no need for introductions?" Matt asked.

"Crazy told me everything." Eagun said seriously. "It took him hours, the silly boy skipped everywhere, and I just listened. Interesting, really."

"I see…" Fox said.

"So…Looks like I'm on the run then, huh?"

"We're sorry we got you involved." Paul apologized, looking ashamed.

"Worry not, I was a marked man, anyways." Eagun said. "It was only a matter of time before they came to take me away."

"But you can help us out, right? I understand if you can't." Ness said.

"I'd be more than glad to help Pichu learn Volt tackle." Eagun said. "But she better be willing to work hard: it's not an easy task!"

"Pichu!" Pichu said with a determined look.

"Ha ha! I'm glad to see you have the spirit. It may be easier than I think it will be, but there's no guarantees. None of you are worth anything with tired feet and empty stomachs. I've gone and cooked dinner already. Crazy expected you here at about this time anyways."

"POYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Kirby yelled joyfully, fleeing from the room.

"You better eat, before Kirby gets it all." Eagun suggested wisely.

The smashers took his advice and ran after Kirby, and Eagun resumed watching Crazy mercilessly beat himself up inside a hologram copy of Station square. He was buried under a pile of cars, and his yells grew louder with each car.

"Oh! Help me! Save me! ANYBODY! MY BACK'S BREAK- Hey, wait a sec…do I even have a backbone? OOF!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next day:

Everything was up and running, and everybody was making a few more preparations, entitling messing with the loot from Area 51.

Paul was experimenting with what his gun might do if fused with a Chaos Drive, and the results were fairly destructive. Matt was busy messing around with a huge amount of electronics, and he had the Red Chaos emerald next to him.

Kirby was making sure the warpstars were in tip-top shape, and Ness followed next to him, taking up an inventory of everything they had, weapons, junk, stars, food, blah blah.

Fox was in the cockpit steering the ship and conversing with Eagun and Crazy, and Link and Luigi took a snooze. Pichu was training with Eagun's Pikachu in the hologram Final Destination, but she still had a long ways to go. She kept blowing herself up trying to store all the energy…

After a bit, Matt finally declared he was finished.

"What IS that?" Ness asked, standing on the tip of his toes to look at the contraption in Matt's hands. It was a box with an antenna, and there were a few lenses on the sides.

"This, is going to help us trace the locations of other Chaos Emeralds." Matt explained.

"Huh?" Ness asked.

"How does that work?" Fox asked.

"See, Chaos emeralds are attracted to one another like a magnet, and by amplifying the signal, I can trace responsive waves emanating from other emeralds." Matt said. "Let's hook it up and see if it works."

"How can you be thinking of CHAOS emeralds at a time like this!??!" Link asked. "Our friends are in danger!"

"I was thinking along the lines of this: A few of the chaos emeralds are bound to be in other GUN bases, right? Well, we know for a fact Yoshi and Sonic are locked up in a GUN base, so if there's a Chaos emerald at the base, we can trace the signal and kill two birds with one stone, with our friends top priority."

"Genius." Paul muttered.

"I don't have an IQ of 700 for nothing." Matt said grimly.

"What's with the look?" Ness asked.

"…Bad…Memories." Matt said hesitantly. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry!" Ness said hastily.

"It's fine." Matt assured the psychic. "Let's hook up the radar and see if it works."

Matt stooped down and attached the box to the hologram machine with a few wires, and Crazy laughed insanely.

"OH, Man! Stop it! It tickles, OHH!!"

A window popped up on the windshield's screen, and a diagram of two waves, a red one, and a blue one, narrowed down to little rays of light on the screen.

"The emeralds 'know' where each other are now." Matt said. "It worked!"

"Where's that?" Luigi asked, leaning over the back of the captain's chair.

"It's definitely a GUN base." Fox informed the team. "There isn't any information on the name of the base, though."

Matt took a closer look at the screen as the computer put in geographic lines and such.

"It's an island. I'd recognize it anywhere."

"Where is it?" Link asked.

"It's a few miles off the coast of Station Square. "Matt explained. "That's Prison Island, where their Navy branch is located."

"And you think Yoshi and Sonic are there?"

"Hard to say. It's worth a shot." Matt said. "It wouldn't be a total bust if they weren't there, but it'd make things harder is they're somewhere else."

"So, I guess let's go?" Paul asked uncertainly.

"Crazy, set the ship on the coordinates I'm about to give you. I think you can translate them to the new latitudes and longitudes of this planet. We've got a few friends to save, and we're counting on you!"

"Oh, man, where should I start?" Crazy asked himself.

"No pressure!" Ness said mischievously.

"DAGBURNNIT! Don't pester me! I'm thinking!" Crazy said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

11:56

Prison Island: Nearby Airspace

"…Yep, this is the place alright." Tails said. He was in his blue plane, the Tornado. He was looking at a screen inside his cockpit as the wind whipped at his face fur and ears.

"…I STILL can't believe Sonic would attack military buildings and rob a bank! There's something going on."

WHOOSH!

"Need a hand, Tails?"

"MATT!?!?!"

Matt saluted the little tinkering fox. He was standing on a warpstar like it was a surfboard, and the rest of the smashers swooped in behind him. Crazy steered the gummi ship a ways behind.

"What're you doing here?" Tails asked.

"What are YOU doing here?" Matt asked.

"You answer first." Tails said.

"Ok, Tails. We're after the chaos emeralds, but we're mainly here to rescue Sonic and Yoshi, if they're here."

"I came here top rescue Sonic." Tails explained. "I know he's here for a fact. I hacked into their radio communications, and tracked them down to here. I didn't know Yoshi was with him!"

"Too much to explain." Matt said. "We're going to need to hurry before things get out of hand."

"Right!" Tails said. He turned and faced the island looming ahead, but suddenly squinted his eyes and looked hardly at a docking area. "Wait a second…Is that AMY!?!?!"

"And Eggman! You're kidding me…" Matt slapped his face in frustration. "That's enough confirmation for me, Tails! Let's ride!"

"Tornado! Transformation!" Tails cried, hitting a button on the dashboard of his plane.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Give up, Amy!" Eggman yelled angrily. He was walking up to her in his egg walker gadget, when Tails, Matt, Link, Fox, Ness, Kirby, Pichu, and Paul dropped out of the air.

"You're outnumbered, egg head!" Matt said.

"Amy, take cover!" Tails yelled over his shoulder. The frightened hedgehog girl didn't need a second warning. She ran off while Eggman was distracted by the arrival of the smashers and Tails.

"I wasn't counting on all of you appearing here." Eggman said. "I'll just have to fix my little errors…"

"You can't be here for a good reason." Tails said. "We may share a common enemy, but that doesn't mean we're friends!"

"Oh, your words sting me!" Eggman said mockingly. "But you're misinformed. I have other plans you idiots no doubt know nothing of. I can't let you interrupt me!"

"That's what we're good at, doc!" Matt smiled.

Eggman started the fight by aiming a targeting laser at the smashers, and when he had locked on, huge laser balls erupted from a cannon on the back of his machine and chased after the fighters. Everybody scattered as the area they were in went up in flames, then they retaliated.

"OOOOOAAAHHHHHH!!!" Eggman yelled. The force of nine people hitting him at once knocked him off his rocker, and he fell to the ground, furious.

"GRAAAAAAAAHHH!! Let's see you handle this!" Eggman said, getting back up with the aid of jet engines. He rapped a button on his dashboard, and a missile launcher fired a bunch of flaming projectiles into the air. Everybody scattered as the barrage of missiles rained down on the ground from above, scattering chunks of pavement and other debris into the air as the explosions made the arena shake.

Luigi sucked a few of the missiles up with his vacuum, then fired them back at Eggman, who sniped them out of the air with a laser machine gun fused to the front of his ship. Matt jumped at him from above, aided by the smoke about. Eggman spun around and slammed his fist into Matt's face just before he slashed him, then spun around and knocked Ness away with a haymaker. Tails drove his machine right up to Eggman and pressed a button that made the front propeller pop off on a spring.

Eggman turned at took the blow mid-machine, and yelled as the spring threw him backwards into wall. He activated a shield just as Paul, Ness, and Luigi released a barrage of energy spells at him, then he retaliated with another salvo of missiles. Mat ran up to engage him again, and Eggman leaned to the side to avoid a sword slash, and sent him away with a nasty Knuckle sandwich. Link ran up too, and was sent away by a giant boxing glove on a spring.

BAM!

BIFF

BOP!

YOWCH!

BOOM!

PIFF!

SHING!

ARGH!

GRACK!

OOF!

DANG!

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

SPROING!

EEEEEYOWCH!

BEUM! BEUM!

RATATATATATATATATATATATAT

SPROING!

QUIT THAT!

OOOOOOOOOOOT!

GUH!

AAAAAHHH!!

EEEEEEEEP!

POW!

After a small break, the fighters lay everywhere, smoking, panting, wheezing, nursing bruises, and muttering under their breath. Eggman was equally tired, but he had other business to attend to.

"…I'll let you off this time. Next time we meet, you won't be so lucky." Eggman threatened seriously, before walking off in his machine and disappearing.

"…Man…" Matt panted. "He sure was a handful…What's he up to?"

"Pant…Whatever it is, it's not safe with him around. We better get outta here with Sonic and Yoshi before something worse happens." Tails said.

"That way seems to be the best way to go, but for the sake of getting through here quickly, we'll need to split into two groups to get Sonic and Yoshi, and the emerald."

"I'll go for the emerald." Paul said. "I'm better at finding treasure than people."

After quick match up, Matt, Tails, Luigi, Pichu, and Ness went to rescue Yoshi and Sonic, and Paul, Fox, Link, and Kirby went to go find the emerald, and whatever treasure they could get their hands on in-between.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The five smashers, led by Matt, rushed into the main compound, and dropped down a shaft into a cell-type of room.

A few GUN robots flew in after them, the small flying types with single laser guns.

Tails took out a few with homing lasers, and the smashers laid the rest to waste in record time. The destruction of the robots opened up the locks on the gates, and the team rushed through the doorway across a small bridge. More of the robots flew at them from overhead, and Pichu took them out with Thunder. A human shaped robot stood up in front of the team, and Matt quickly eliminated it with an earth shattering punch. The robot exploded and a chaos drive flew into the air. Matt jumped after it and grabbed it with his hand, then landed neatly and blew the rest of the robots to pieces with a hail of ice bullets.

Luigi stepped in front of Matt and smashed a tubular container in front of them with a hammer, and it exploded to make a nice foothold out of its base. Everybody climbed up onto the next ledge, and accessed an elevator that went upwards. Tons more of flying robots came at them from above, and a mixture of lasers, lightning, ice, and other stuff caused the sky to rain with junk and Chaos drives.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Owch! Quit pushin!" Link whined, massaging his head.

"Poyo!"

"There isn't enough room to mess around in here." Fox said. "So stop."

They were inside a ventilation shaft they had found, and they had been inside for a few minutes.

Link made his way around the tight turn ahead, and kirby rolled right behind him, enjoying himself for some odd reason.

"Poyo poy yop poyo poy!" Kirby sang happily, rolling along.

"Shh…" Paul whispered. "I think we're there."

"Ya mean above the storage center?" Link asked.

"Yep."

"How do we get down?" Fox asked. "

"Still working on that…"

"Poyo!"

"NO!"

"He CAN'T."

"Mommy."

Kirby turned his body into stone, and much to the horror of his partners, the shaft buckled under his weight, and then the bottom of it ripped out and dropped the smashers right onto the ground below. They fell in a heap, and they groaned a few times and pulled themselves up.

"Hands up."

Paul threw his hands into the air at the request of the robot soldier behind him, but that resulted in him casting a Thunder spell. The robot exploded in a shower of sparks, and Paul put his hands down.

"OoooOOOps." Paul said sarcastically. "So, where do we start?"

There were three floors of safes, a blue floor, a yellow floor, and a red floor, each of which had long rows of safes stacked two high. There were security mechanisms everywhere, which only made things harder. There was the occasional flat robot that had a mess of spikes on its head.

"I don't see any chaos emeralds." Link said.

"It has to be here SOMEWHERE." Paul insisted.

"Split up?" Fox asked.

"Split up." Everybody nodded their agreement, and they walked off in different directions.

Kirby stayed on the sot and spun around in confusion, then muttered angrily under his breath and walked another direction.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

After a load of security locks, stupid brainless robots, and other mildly hazardous hazards, they made it to one last gate.

Tails locked onto the locks on the door, and then fired four homing lasers. The explosions, which were synchronized to hit all at the same time, blew the locks off the door and imploded it. The smashers walked through the smoke and into the new room, and they waited for the smoke to vanish. When the room was less cloudy, Matt spoke up disappointedly.

"Look." He pointed at the cell Sonic and Yoshi were in, and everybody took note of the bars that were eaten away.

"I was hoping this would be easy, but now we need to find them. At least they escaped." Tails sighed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Come on, Yoshi!" Sonic panted. He had his hand clamped around Yoshi's wrist like an iron vise, and Yoshi flopped behind him like a limp rag, his mouth flecked with foam.

"Duh..hur…" Yoshi mumbled. "Burr-break…"

"We're almost out of here, Yoshi. Hold on!" Sonic said.

They ran through airstrips, getting bombed by GUN fighter planes, and they got chased by bigger GUN robots that fired messes of lasers at them.

Up ahead loomed the silhouette of a big rocket…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Only getting started, peeps. There'll be quite a few more chapters of this arc. Hey, I have almost a whole game to cover, don't I? Huh?**

**I hope this was enjoyable for you so far! I had fun typing it, and I really hope you had fun reading it. Expect a good deal of insanity next chapter, like a three-way fight. Those are never simple…**

**He he he, THIS is what happens when you read a story written my somebody who is starting to question their sanity. Yesh, peeps.**

**Well, see ya next time! Thanks for reading, and see ya next time!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	21. Metal Harbor Part 2

**Hooo ok. Now, I wish to thank everybody that reviewed, and there shall be a shortage of notes todayish.**

**So, since I have made it clear I don't want long notes, let's start!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

ZOOM!

WHOOSH!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" Yoshi screamed. Sonic bounded over a huge gap in the path, then bolted across an airstrip atop a carrier ship. GUN planes flew in from everywhere, bombing as much of the strip as possible to hinder the heroes.

Sonic put on a burst of speed and passed all of the missiles before they exploded, clearing the 'minefield' before it erupted in flames.

Way above, a gigantic rocket hurtled towards the ship, and in a massive, omni-deafening roar, the missile collided with the ship and erupted into a massive plume of flame.

Sonic cleared the ship before the missile exploded, but the shock from it caught him in midair, and propelled him into another ship a few leagues away. He and Yoshi skidded to a halt and watched as the ship sank backwards, with the front aimed at the sky like a big knife. The boat went under in a matter of seconds, what was left of it, and more GUN planes flew at the heroes.

Sonic was unable to outrun the bullets, and Yoshi erected a hard eggshell around the both of them. The bullets pinged off the shell, and the force of the bullets flung them off the side of the boat into the ocean. The shell bobbed right back up like a float, then shot away like a torpedo as Sonic and Yoshi teamed up, rolling the egg like a wheel.

Up ahead was the big flagship of the fleet surrounding the base, and everything was in a panic as GUN soldiers searched for the egg and its inhabitants.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Matt, Tails, Luigi, Pichu, and Ness watched the mushroom cloud in the distance shoot up into the sky, and eventually fade away into black smoke.

"I bet that was Sonic." Matt said, shading his eyes.

"That missile was huge!" Ness exclaimed. "What were they gonna DO with that sucker!?!?"

"That would be the government's business." Tails said. "They've been busy arming themselves for a while now…"

"Probably preparing to wage war against the remnants of the Super Smash Brothers, the 'Protectors of justice.'" Matt stated in an ironic tone. "Funny, how when people's views start to differ, or when people start jumping to conclusions about each other, they turn against each other…just like that." Matt snapped his fingers.

"I wonder if we'll ever be able to prove our innocence?" Luigi sighed dejectedly. "Are we going to be like this for the rest of our lives?"

"Not if there's something I can do about it." Matt said. "That's the thing with misunderstandings. If we have a chance to talk with the right people…and if they were reasonable enough, it would be all over."

"All this you see…" Tails said. "…Started when the GUN commander declared us all traitors of the world government."

"We need to find what made that decision come to be." Ness said.

"Right, well, let's g-"

A black blur shot past the smashers so fast, they weren't even sure if they saw it for a moment. Matt squinted his eyes and looked out over the water, just before the figure vanished.

"Was that…?"

"Sonic?" Tails asked.

"No, it isn't!" Amy said suddenly, having finally caught up. She held her knees with her hands and panted for her breath, then she finally felt she had enough rest. "I thought he was Sonic, and I went over to him, but when he turned around, he glared at me with these awful red eyes! He was with Eggman and this other bat girl."

"We'll look into this." Matt said. "I think I'm finally getting what's going on. But just to be sure!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Nothing yet!" Link called down from the third floor. He had just bashed down his twelfth safe, which was filled with useless junk.

"Argh!" Fox muttered. He wedged a safe open with his staff. The safe he was working on didn't budge, then in a fit of frustration, he activated his staff rocket spell, and let go. His staff hurtled like a missile, and blew the door to pieces when it hit. Inside the safe was a pile of fresh Chaos drives.

"May as well take them." Fox shrugged. "How's it on your end, Kirby?"

Kirby was at his twenty eighth, and final safe. He smashed it open with his mallet, and proceeded to inhale every last bit of contents. He was more determined than anybody to collect treasure.

"I can't hold off the robots for forever, ya know!" Paul yelled. He was in a sea of guard robots, and the fans below were blowing junk parts way into the air, and it was raining junk.

He used his Light spear technique and destroyed a bunch of robots with a column of damaging light energy, then he dashed through it and took out so many more robots. When he stopped skidding, he summoned a whorl of flames around his body that scattered burnt remains of robots hit by the Fire spell. He transformed his sword into a gun, then went crazy shooting Blizzard spells everywhere.

"No chaos emeralds here!" Link yelled.

"Poyo poyto!"

"None here, either!" Fox said.

"Dang!" Paul yelped. He dived out of the way of a team rush of robots, then destroyed them with a massive thunder bolt. "Sheesh, just how much metal is there in the universe, anyways!??!?!"

"Lots." Fox replied unhelpfully. He drew his blaster and sniped a bunch of the robots from his perch, and Link and Kirby joined in on the shooting fest.

"That one's mine!"

"Hey, I shot him first!"

"Poyo!"

Paul climbed up a level amidst the confusion, then started firing another barrage of icy balls of energy. They were at it for awhile, when there was a whoosh, and something whipped past all the smashers and stole the weapons they were holding.

"Hey!"

"Was that you, Fox!?!?!"

"How could it be me!?!? I'm here!"

"POOOOOYOOOOOOOO!!!"

"There!" Link said suddenly. He pointed at a shadow up near the ceiling. The figure gasped, then flew towards a hole in the ceiling and shot up the shaft into an upper room.

"Too bad for whoever it was." Paul said. He summoned his sword back to his hand, and above there was a shout of surprise. "C'mon, let's get up there!"

The smashers jumped off walls and pipes in their hurry to get to the top, then they landed on a platform with a handle attached to a cable. They grabbed it, but nothing happened.

"We're too heavy, but this should fix the problem." Fox claimed. He held onto the handle with one hand and drew his staff, since it was his gun that was stolen, and then summoned up another burst of energy. The push sent them flying into the air, and they let go of the handle before it wound up into its pulley, and they pushed off each other before hitting their heads. They shot way past the floor, and headed up towards the ceiling, then curved down and splatted on the ground.

"I have the intruders in sight. Requesting orders."

There was another machine like the one codenamed Bigfoot that Paul fought before, but it had no legs for landing. The pilot was inside speaking into his radio.

"Was it a trap!?!?!" Paul yelled, blushing with shame.

"No, I accidentally tripped the alarm." A feminine voice said.

A female bat wearing a black rubber suit with a heart across her chest, and two white boots walked out of the shadows, holding three gems in her hands. Her fur was white, and her green eyes had a mischievous glint to them.

"But, that doesn't put us on the same side."

"You're going up against us?" Link asked.

"Don't ignore me!" The soldier inside the machine yelled angrily.

Everybody jumped back, and looked at each other menacingly. Rouge the Bat pocketed the blue, purple, and light blue emeralds and looked at the smashers and the GUN machine warily, Link Paul Fox and Kirby braced themselves and got into their fighting stances, and the GUN soldier charged up a laser blast.

They all rushed at each other, and in a clash of metal, weapons, and body parts, the room erupted into unbearable noise, DEFINITELY a sign of battle.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Matt ran up a staircase around the north side of the prison's perimeter, and everybody else followed him as he rushed to the top. When they got there, they saw the mysterious Sonic "Imposter"

"So…what business do you mortals have here with me?" The hedgehog asked in a deep masculine voice.

"Who are you?" Ness demanded.

The hedgehog turned around and looked at the smashers through emotionless amber eyes. "My name is Shadow the Hedgehog! I am the ultimate life form!"

"Bring it on!" Matt said, bringing his sword into position.

"B-Bring it off!" Luigi stuttered, shaking like a leaf in a gale.

"Hmph." Shadow said. "Chaos…CONTROL!!!!!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Rouge flew at Link who blocked a drill kick with his shield. He was unable to block a barrage of bullets from behind, and the attack smacked into the metal plates on his Magic armor and knocked him over. The machine shot towards Rouge, and she flew out of the way only to be smashed out of the air by Fox's staff.

Rouge did a back flip and landed on her feet, then dashed out of the way as Fox rushed at her. He used his Fox Illusion one last time, and grabbed his gun back from her pocket. "I'll be taking that back now!" Fox said.

"Darn, I wish I'd seen that coming." Rouge said. Fox fired lasers wildly at her, but she dodged each one of them by leaning and ducking in different directions, then she ran up close and performed a powerful spin kick that caught Fox on the chin. He flew into the air and over the edge. Before he fell, he grabbed the edge, and kicked Rouge when she ran towards him.

The GUN machine charged at the trio watching Rouge and Fox fight, and they all dived out of the way as it began spraying the ground with its machine guns. The pilot steered the machine around in a big turn, then came back at the smashers. Kirby super inflated himself and made his skin super doughy with his star rod, and when the bullets hit him, they bounced everywhere and a few of them hit the machine. She machine stopped for just a second, and that was all Link needed. He grabbed a bomb from his infinite pockets, and tossed it at the machine.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The GUN machine flew back from the explosion, but finally stopped, and flew back at Link. It released a homing laser burst that caught Link off guard a second time, and he skidded across the ground on his back. Paul and Kirby fired stars and fireballs at the machine, and in a few seconds it was down and smoking.

Clang! Bang! Shing! Beum! Whoosh!

Rouge kicked at Fox skillfully, using only her legs as her weapons. Fox swung his staff back and forth, blocking a kick here, and blocking another kick with the other end of his staff, but unfortunately for the two fighters they were evenly matched.

Rouge did another spin kick which Fox blocked, then she leapt into the air and came back towards him like a drill. He dived out of the way just before she hit the ground, and he countered with his Fox illusion. She managed to avoid the attack barely, and they clashed for a few more seconds and ended up in a staff/foot lock.

"You're good, I'll give you that." Rouge panted.

"You're not so bad yourself." Fox groaned, pushing against his staff.

"I have some business to attend to, so I'll be seeing you later."

"Not so fast!" Fox said. He pulled off a surprise attack by twisting his staff and breaking it free, then pushing the handle right into Rouge' chest and knocking the wind out of her. She was knocked back a distance, and Fox rushed her at top speed.

He knocked her over the edge, but not before stealing the blue emerald and Link's bow back.

There was a flapping noise and Rouge flew back up, with a smile on her face. "Nice try, handsome. I'll play with you some other time. Toodles!"

"Wait!"

Fox ran towards the edge, but she vanished so quickly, it was almost as if she weren't there to begin with.

"We managed to get what we came for." Paul said. "We should probably be getting out of here now."

"Time to find the others!" Link said. Link, Paul, Fox, and Kirby jumped over the edge down to the lower levels, and used their skills to slow their descent.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Shadow vanished in a bright flash, leaving everybody standing by, surprised.

There was another flash, and suddenly, Shadow expelled a huge sphere of chaotic energy that slashed everybody wildly with chaos energy, and they all fell back to the ground, burnt and slashed.

"I went easy that time. Cross me again, and I will be sure to destroy you." Shadow said. He smiled darkly, then pressed a button on a device in his hand and disappeared across over the rail.

Beep.

"Ugh…" Ness moaned. "I've never felt power like that before!"

"Shadow…" Matt muttered. "Why didn't he remember me and Tails? And why is this happening all over again?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing." Matt assured Ness.

Beep.

"What was that?" Tails asked, his ears standing up on end.

Beep.

"It came from over there!" Luigi said.

Beep.

The smashers walked over to where the offending noise was coming from, and spotted a small box, about the size of a candy bar, with Eggman's emblem on it, and a glowing green timer.

"IT'S-IT'S A BOMB!" Matt yelled.

"I'll take it out!" Ness said.

"NO! If you touch that, it's set off to explode! If ANYTHING touches it, we'll go up in flames!"

"What do we do!?!?!?" Luigi screamed.

"Well, in a time like this, I'd say…Run." Matt said.

The words sank in rather slowly, then everybody turned away and walked slowly, and picked up speed. Before long they were running away at top speed, screaming their heads off.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link and his partners had finally crawled out of the vent shaft when Matt and co. slammed into them and they all splatted on the ground.

"Whoa!" Tails yelled. He tried stopping his machine but it tripped on the pile of smashers and smashed them.

"Boiyoh!" Kirby yelled.

"Mommy!" Luigi cried.

"We were just looking for you." Link said, ignoring the weight sitting on his back.

"I have _great_ news for all of you." Matt said sarcastically. "The island's rigged, and it's going to explode in…five minutes."

"WHAAAAT!?!?!" Link Paul and Fox screamed in unison. Kirby gasped loudly.

"Yeah, and we ran into somebody that looks almost exactly like Sonic!" Ness said.

"But he didn't remember me or Matt!" Tails said. "We've met him before, but time's rewound itself somehow…"

"I think each of the worlds may have experienced a time paradox." Matt said. "The reason we weren't affected is because we were in a different dimension all together!"

"So, we kept our memories and such because our dimension wasn't affected by a time disruption?" Ness asked.

"…That's the most logical explanation I can find to this." Matt said.

"How odd." Paul said, stroking his chin.

"…" Matt looked out over the water, and he had a depressed frown on his face.

Ness looked at him from the corner of his eye, and by the look on Matt's face, he knew something was wrong.

"…DANG!" Matt yelled. "we're sitting here wasting precious time, when we should be looking for Sonic and Yoshi! We have three minutes left!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Fwhoom!

Sonic and Yoshi fell through a bunch of leave ridden branches, and landed on a platform floating in the jungle. In the background, there was a huge explosion as the flagship exploded, courtesy of Sonic and Yoshi.

"That blue hedgehog, of all places!" Shadow sighed in frustration. He was on a branch above, in the act of zipping away, when the two heroes shot through the canopy.

"I found you, Shadow!" Sonic said. "Come on, what are you doing up there?"

"That is none of your business, fake." Shadow said.

"What's happened to you!?!?" Sonic asked. "We-We used to do stuff together, fighting against Eggman and other stuff!"

"I have no idea what you speak of." Shadow said bluntly. "I've never even really met you before, my whole life. You would have to be older that fifty years! Ha!"

"Is your amnesia acting up again?" Sonic sighed, shrugging helplessly. "Here, let me jog your memory a little bit! Get down here!"

"With pleasure." Shadow smiled. He shot down, and in a flash, the two hedgehogs went head to head, bashing the daylights out of each other so fast Yoshi's eyes rolled around in his head like gyros.

Sonic and Shadow punched, kicked, and karate chopped at each other, but they gave and took what they got.

Shadow finally got in a chaos charged uppercut that sent Sonic flying into the air, and Shadow warped up and was about to rocket kick him back to the ground when Yoshi launched an egg right in his face.

Shadow wiped egg goo from his face, then glared sullenly at Yoshi. He suddenly felt rooted to the spot by fear. Shadow snapped his fingers and an explosion of distorted energy enveloped Yoshi, sending him into the air.

Sonic had all the time he needed. He zoomed over and tackled Shadow, then leapt up into the air behind him and did a spin attack on his back. Shadow warped away and charged up a ball of energy in his hands, then released it.

"Chaos Spear!"

Sonic shot out of the way just in time as bunches of yellow rays hit the spot where Sonic was. Sonic shot into the air again, and knocked Shadow down with an axe kick. He fell back down towards Shadow, who rolled out of the way and kicked Sonic's legs out from under him.

Yoshi long jumped towards Shadow and aimed both of his feet at him for a vicious double kick, but Shadow dashed though him like a ghost and threw a speck of distorted space at Yoshi that exploded. Yoshi fell in the water with a yelp, but managed not to melt.

Sonic leapt at Shadow and spun around in the air like a windmill, kicking Shadow hard in the stomach and knocking him over. He bounded back up and rushed back at Sonic, and the two hit each other at top speed.

BAM!

They flew back from the collision, both of them breathing raggedly as bruises started to show.

"Shadow! What are you doing!?!?" Eggman's voice yelled over a walkie talkie Shadow had. "Get off that island before it blows up with you on it! Stopp messing around!"

"Blows up!?!?!" Yoshi screamed in fear.

Shadow gaped at the device in shock, and looked back at Sonic and Yoshi, then jumped back and zipped off before they could say so much as jack squat.

"We need to get outta here!" Yoshi cried.

"Hang on!" Sonic yelled. He grabbed Yoshi's hand, and took off faster than ever before.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Everything was in a panic back at the main pier.

The smashers ran everywhere wildly, calling Sonic's and Yoshi's names over an over again.

"Thirty seconds!" Matt yelled. Everybody called more frantically.

Suddenly, there was a sonic boom, and Sonic shot over the edge above and landed nicely by Matt, holding a very freaked out Yoshi by the hand.

"Let's get outta here!" Sonic said.

"Well said." link sighed with relief.

"That's everybody!?!?" Amy yelled.

Everybody gathered up.

"I hope this works!" Tails said. "Tornado! Transformation!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!!!!!

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

-

-

-

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hour huge fiery pillars of white hot flame shot up from the island, destroying any assets GUN may have had there.

The last blast obliterated the whole island, and the Tornado flew away from it, with all the smashers and Amy clinging to it in a long human chain, screaming their heads off.

The explosion slowed up and the plane shot out of the reach of its fiery wrath, shooting towards the coast.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Dang, I need to be going to bed. It's a school night, of course!**

**So, I hope I did good. I think everybody should be seeing some of a twist already.**

**Now, I will talk about it some other time. thanks for reading, and see ya next time!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	22. The Ultimatum

**SHORT NOTES!!! **

**Anyways, thanks all of you that reviewed. let's go ahead and start.**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

It was late that same night the smashers escaped the destroyed Prison island…

Everybody was in one of the central intersections in Station square, gazing upwards at the big plasma screen that overlooked the roadway.

On screen was Eggman, carrying a dire message.

"HA HA HA! Citizens of Ivalice, lend me your ears, and listen to me carefully! My name is Doctor Robotnic, the world's greatest scientist! And soon, to be the world's greatest ruler! Now, I am building the greatest empire of all time!"

The screen flashed off, and way above, the asteroid that hung above, way past the horizon, flashed green and then the lower half exploded, revealing a huge Eggman face, which was really an old shut down research facility.

The nose split into four prongs, and waves of green energy pulsed and formed a massive ball of energy. Then, a gigantic beam of chaos energy shot from the moon, and soared above the city.

It shot into the sky towards the moon on the other side, and in a terrific explosion, a chunk of the moon was destroyed. There was a huge crater full of magma from the heat of the explosion, and bits of the moon were seen drifting off into space.

The smashers looked up at the screen after the horrifying spectacle, and there was a timer counting down from twenty four hours.

"Man…he just doesn't give up, does he!?!?" Sonic sighed in exasperation.

"He's at it again, just like before." Tails said.

"Still, that cannon's no joke." Matt said seriously. "We can't play around with something like that at a MADMAN'S disposal!"

"We need to do something quick!" Fox said. "We only have twenty four hours, we'll have to act quickly."

"Are you sure that cannon can wipe out the whole planet?" Paul asked. "Look, this planet's a hundred times more massive than the original Station square planet was."

"That cannon's more powerful than you want to know." Matt said darkly. "You haven't seen what it can do."

"I'll take your word for it." Paul said nervously, looking away from Matt's fierce expression.

"FREEZE!" An authorative voice suddenly shouted.

"I-I F-forgot about the police." Luigi stuttered nervously.

"PUT YOUR HANDS UP IN THE AIR!"

"Tails, remember what we did before?" Matt asked.

"Yeah! We tracked down eggy with a chaos emerald!" Tails said. "But we know he was in the Ark."

"We can't disrupt the natural flow of events." Matt said. "We're pushing it as is."

"Right! Tails, do your stuff!" Sonic said. "Me and the rest of us smashers will distract the police!"

"Ok, good luck!" Tails said before kicking his machine into high gear and shooting off.

Sonic and the smashers split from the scene as quick as they could, and left Amy behind.

"Huh!?!? This happened before?" Amy asked in shock. "HEY! Wait a MINUTE! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LET ME GET CAUGHT, ARE YOU!?!?!?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Tails, upon exiting the alley, walked the machine right into a sub-street. There were police cars blocking some parts of the road, but that didn't mean a thing.

He charged at the cars, and fired a huge laser that blasted the cars up into the sky. Tails shot down the path while the policemen who were guarding the area ran away. Car parts rained down from the air.

Tails had escaped, plain and simple.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link and the rest of the team weren't as lucky.

They were under a swarm of robots, called over by GUN forces when the police requested backup.

Now, they were pressed against a wall fighting like lunatics, with junk flying everywhere and soldiers nearby shot at them with guns, but their aim sucked so nobody died.

"Time we break free of this one!" Link panted. He focused his energy into the master sword, then spun around really fast, sending off a wave of light energy. The wave destroyed the robots and knocked the soldiers out, and also opened up an escape route!

"Why didn't you use that earlier!?" Luigi asked.

"I wanted to have fun!" Link grinned a big cheesy grin, and everybody slapped their heads.

They ducked under another volley of bullets, and a soldier could be heard cursing nearby. The smashers took off and pushed soldiers out of the way, finally escaping the mob.

They ran up a few streets, destroying machines that got in the way. The GUN soldiers started using their planes again, but they were shot out of the sky by a variety of arrows bullets spells stars, and beams.

A few minutes later, the smashers had eluded pursuit completely.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Mid-chappy notes**

**Ok, I'm starting to regret doing this arc…AHEM, I'm feeling like I could have done SO much better, if I made it up meself. I'd best not try to novelize a game in about five chapters again. :O**

**I've learned my lesson. I'll try not to bore you guys to death…**

     

**I gorts it! HAR!**

**I just won't focus on the dumb action parts. I'll save it all for the fights. Sorry, peepsicles!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

It was about twelve o' clock in the afternoon, and the city was still full of Gun soldiers looking for the smashers, but they weren't going to be found.

They stood on the sidewalk in an inconspicuous street, and took a breather.

"Poyo!" Kirby said.

"No, no time for food." Ness said. "We're just too busy!"

"Poyo yo POY!" Kirby said, his eyes shining with a sudden thought. He slapped his stubby little arm into his other, then brandished the star rod and mumbled a quick jumble of Poyos. There was a flash, and he was sitting at a table, eating a small feast.

"…Ok, we don't have to worry about Kirby going hungry, at least." ness said, as Luigi and Pichu joined the puffball.

Clank.

"Whoa!" Link yelped in shock. The manhole lid he was standing on shook a little, and then Knuckles popped his head out.

"Oh…Hello!" Knuckles said. "What're you doing in an alley like this? it's a nice day out…Why ARE you guys here, anyways?" he asked, pointing around.

"Eh, nothing really." Sonic said, leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Matt!" knuckles suddenly said. His tone was fierce. Matt jumped up into the air, and looked at Knuckles, his body tense and ready to run if Knuckles tried anything.

"You know, I'm still collecting master emerald shards from when you blew it up to get that blade." he said, pointing at the Emerald Blade. "You're lucky I don't go and strangle you, this very moment."

"Oh, eh…heh heh! That's very…nice… of you." Matt said, scratching the back of his head and looking away in embarrassment.

"…Well, I hope you guys have been doing good." knuckles said. "GUN's been a tad buggy lately, haven't they?"

"Rather!" Tails exclaimed. "Did you see what Eggman did to the moon!?!?"

"Huh? What did he do? Carve his face out on it or something?"

"I wish…It'd be better that what he did." Tails sighed. "Ya see, he went to the Ark, that old research facility in space, and he shot the moon with a big cannon!"

"…What happened to it?"

"Look for yourself."

Knuckles crawled out of the sewer shaft with a grunt, then closed the manhole and looked where Tails was pointing.

"What the!?!?!"

"Yeah, and he said he's going to blow up the world with the cannon."

"EGGMAN!!!!" Knuckles roared. He was about to run off like a steaming mad bull on a rampage, when Ness blocked him with a psychic wall.

"Hey, there isn't anything you can do, yet, at least." He said. "if you want to kick eggy's butt, come with us, and we'll take you straight to him!"

"Well, it's either Matt, or him." Knuckles said.

"I'd say it's eggman's turn." Matt squeaked.

"Yeah, we still need the know-it-all." Link smiled. "We can't afford to bust him up, yet."

"Let's go find the president!" Luigi said, mouth full of meatballs and spaghetti.

The smashers nodded to one another, and ran off. Kirby wished the table away, and he and Pichu and Luigi took off, leaving Amy behind…AGAIN.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!" Amy yelled. She ran after them, swinging her hammer.

The three closest to her made sure to speed up a little.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Mr. President, incoming message from Dr. Eggman." The woman said like a machine.

_Why did I hire her?_ The president sighed mentally. She was dreadfully boring and monotone.

"…Hook him up. I'll hear him." The president said.

They were inside his limo, and in front of him was a big screen. It was black for a few moments, then a staticy image of Eggman appeared. The signal was weak, but he could still be heard well.

"It's an honor, your presidency!" Eggman said, with a slight mocking tone to his voice.

"What do you want, I'm busy." The president said stiffly. "Please, make it quick."

"Ok, I won't bore you with the details." Eggman said. "Surrender to me! Or…"

"Or?" The president asked.

"Or, I will wipe your puny nation off the face of the planet. No big deal." Eggman said. "You still have twelve hours, so, no pressure!"

"Oh yeah, eggers?" Sonic asked. He shot in through the sunroof.

"Sonic!?!?" Eggman shouted. He was about to terminate the signal, when Tails shot in through the roof and froze the signal. He quickly analyzed it, then spoke the news top the smashers on the roof.

"Yep, he's in the Space Colony Ark, for sure!" Tails announced.

Sonic nodded to him, then turned to the President. "Forgive me for intruding, but ya see this dumb butt?" he said, thumbing over his shoulder towards Eggman. "…Don't listen to him. Gotta go!"

"Hey, wait!" The President yelled. Sonic and the rest of the smashers were already gone.

"Mr. President, incoming message from your attorney."

"Argh, he can wait."

"He is currently throwing a tantrum. He wishes to speak with you."

"I said he can wait. It's his own fault he CAN'T wait."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"How do we get up to the station?" Sonic asked. "Shuttle?"

"yeah, our gummi ship's too valuable to risk. Let's take Eggman's rocket, won't that be nice of him to share with us?" Matt asked.

"Remember Knuckles and the lever…" Tails whispered. Sonic's eyes shot wide open in fear, and Matt paled.

"Eh, are you sure we can't take the gummi ship?" Sonic pleaded.

"Pretty sure." Link said. "We can't have him crashing it, can we?"

"Who crash what?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh, never mind!" Sonic said hastily. "We know where his base is, isn't that right, Knuckles?"

"Huh?"

"Where's Eggman's base?"

"I think he's hiding out in a pyramid in the desert."

"See? Our pal's a genius!" Sonic said, throwing his arm around his confused friend's shoulder. He winked at everybody.

"Yeah!" Ness said. "Knuckles is a genius! He knows the way!"

"Uh, err…"

"I'll follow him anywhere! As long as it isn't too scary…" Luigi said.

"uhh…"

"He's awesome!" Paul said.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Stop it!" Knuckles yelled, while blushing madly. "Let's just-Let's just go already! We have an egg to whip!"

"He has a point!" Sonic said, giving him a thumbs up."

"STOP THAT ALREADY!!!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few short hours later…

The smashers stood on a sand dune in the desert, overlooking the sandy expanse below, and the massive pyramid up ahead.

"That's Eggman's base." Knuckles said. "He came one day when I was quarreling with a bat that was after my emerald shards, and I pounded his guts out for even thinking of taking my master emerald…WHAT WAS LEFT OF IT, THAT IS."

"He's up there in space, somewhere." Link said.

"C'mon, what're we waiting for?" Paul asked. "Let's go and pop him a good one!"

"POYo!" Kirby agreed.

"Pi pi!" Pichu squeaked.

"You're scared of space?" Ness asked. "Don't worry, we'll be there to keep you safe!"

"Pi!"

"Let's see…"Fox said. "We're taking one of his ships to the Ark?"

"That's the plan." Sonic said.

"We've stalled enough." Link said. "We have a score to settle."

"I'll find the entrance!" Tails said. "This place is sure to be guarded well."

"Ok, let's move!" Matt said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BLAM!

The dust cleared, and the smashers walked in through the destroyed metal door into the semi-dark interior of the pyramid.

Ahead of them was a crazy twisted hallway, so they proceeded down it until they stepped out into an immense cave inside the base of the pyramid.

"Look at this place. It almost looks like you could fit the moon in here!" Paul exaggerated.

"No kidding." Link said as he looked about.

"Don't fall off, anybody!" Fox cautioned. "I'm certain it will be the last thing you do."

"Let's go already." Matt said impatiently.

Matt walked on down the suspended pathway, and everybody shared a shrug.

--------------------------------------------------

A few minutes later…

"Eggman sure knows how to advertise himself." Knuckles said, looking at all of the Eggman lights spinning around on posts.

In front of them was a huge metal door, with a lock on it.

"We can't blast our way in." Tails observed, pulling a device off the door. "We'll need to find the keys."

Everybody looked at Knuckles.

"…Why do I have to find the keys?" he asked, exasperated.

"Because, YOU'RE the number one treasure hunter!" Sonic smiled, patting his friend on the back. "Go get em!"

"It looks like I don't have a choice…" Knuckles sighed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"There, ya happy now?" Knuckles asked as he threw the big keys on Sonic's foot.

"YeeeeeeeOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!" Sonic yelped. He pushed the keys off his foot, and massaged it ruefully. "Come on, Knux! I need my feet if I'm going to run!" Sonic whined.

"I'd like to see you go fast with a crutch. THAT would be funny!" Knuckles said.

"Hey!"

Everybody couldn't help but laugh at Sonic's expression, but they soon stopped.

Link grabbed the keys, and with a bit of difficulty, he stuck them in the three locks on the big door. He turned each key until it clicked, then the door sank into the ground with a resounding crash. The door hit the bottom of the pit it was supposed to rest in, and the smashers were shaken off their feet.

"Yow. I can see how tough the door is, now." Paul whistled as he looked at the top of the five foot thick titanium door.

They entered the tunnel behind the door, which seemed to slowly slope down and down. They walked down it for about a minute and a half, before it finally leveled and turned right. They walked out of the exit right into a huge circular room beneath the pyramid, and suspended around the middle of the room was a huge stone ring. Below, was a bottomless pit of quicksand: very deadly. There were hunks of rubble sitting in the sand, tiny little platforms that offered one maybe another chance if they were unfortunate to fall off.

"So! We meet again!"

"Eggman!?!?" Everybody yelled.

They looked around wildly until they spotted him in a doorway across the room. He waved his hand tauntingly.

"I would like to stay and play with you a little, but I have some VERY urgent business to attend to! You have to keep promises, you know!" He said, before turning around and walking off. "Oh…yes, before I forget…DISPOSE OF THEM, My servant!"

The room started shaking like it was in an earthquake, and nobody would have noticed something had Ness not pointed it out.

"Look! The sand!"

Everybody looked at the mountain of sand rising from the pit, and after it rose a few feet above the rest, the top burst and a gigantic stone head appeared. A stone body followed it, and the most massive animated Egyptian statue ever towered above the smashers and looked at them with emotionless red lights.

"Ah, maybe I changed my mind!" Eggman laughed. "I think I want to make sure my Egg Golem takes you out!"

"Fat chance!" Sonic said.

Everybody jumped onto the stone ring, then split into two groups and ran around the giant fist that crashed down and knocked one of the ring's parts down a notch.

"Uh…Oh." Paul muttered.

"What?" Link asked.

"Look at the floor for a second. All of these rings are held in by pushing against each other. It one falls…They all fall!"

"Seriously!?!?" Fox yelped.

"Unfortunately, he's right!" Ness said

"Don't let it hit a platform more then twice!" Matt yelled.

They jumped to the sides as the robot smashed another platform, making the second piece of platform sink a level.

Tails shot a few lasers at the robot's chest, but they glanced off.

"Something's giving it a shield!" Tails exclaimed.

"Then what's that on it's head?" Sonic asked.

"Um…I dunno."

"Then, I'm going to hit it!" Sonic declared. He ran behind the statue where there were a few platforms on its back. he jumped up them at sonic speed, then super spin dashed into the red button. It gave off a loud explosion that flung Sonic off, and it started to spark. The golem slumped against the ring like it was tired, but then it got back up. the shields on its body flashed, then it went back at them as strong as before.

It kept swing its arms and bashing the ground, but Knuckles hopped up on its back again, and struck the button thingy with an explosive punch. Matt jumped up after him and peppered the target with a bunch of dark bullets, then made way for Paul. Paul used his self destruct attack, and the resulting explosion left the button badly cracked. The light inside it faded, and the golem was starting to lose control.

"Take THIS!" Fox cried. He charged up his rocket spell, then aimed the tip of his staff at the button and let go. The staff shot like a bazooka missile, and pierced right through the button with a flash, and a huge explosion of pure energy scattered shards of the button everywhere.

"NOOOOOO!!! Not the control mechanism!" Eggman wailed.

"Wait a sec, that was controlling the robot!?!?" Link yelled.

The smashers shared significant looks, then ran towards Eggman and shot past him. He didn't even bother stopping them. He watched as the robot got back up and looked at him menacingly. Eggman steeled himself, then took on his runaway machine.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Five…"

"Four…"

Sonic shot in the hatch just as it closed and sealed itself, then stood up with everybody else inside the rocket shuttle.

"Buckle in!" Ness said. "It's gonna be rough!"

"Poyo!"

"One…"

"Liftoff!"

Far away, the pyramid's top split in half and moved apart, and the rocket shot up into the heavens, followed by a huge trail of black smoke.

It flew towards the Ark, where the smashers hoped they could stop Eggman…again.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Sorry for the rushed ending. I have to admit, this probably wasn't one of my best chapters. ARGH!**

**Another thing, it might be awhile before I can update again. I have some projects I have to finish, (Bleah!) And I have to study for High School Graduation Tests.**

**NOT FUN.**

**I'll see you guys next time, and I hope you at least enjoyed this chapter.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	23. Space Colony ARK

**WHEW…Ok, things aren't as bad as I thought they were. But, I'm still getting over a case of superb laziness. Since that is the case, and also true, you can see quite simply that I am still alive.**

**Before we continue, I wish to apologize for the poor chapter before this one. I'm sorry I disappointed most of you, but I was starting to run out of ideas…BADLY.**

**BUT, this is pretty much the point I was waiting for. I kinda know what I'm going to do for this chapter, so I know it won't be as abominable as last!**

**So…Let's start before I get on a ranting tangent, and keep going and going and going…**

**Yeah, Let's start.**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

In the cockpit, Fox was steering the shuttle, since he was the piloting expert on the team. Everybody else was crammed in a seat.

Fox's fingers danced nimbly from the steering wheel to various buttons and levers, while his eyes flicked from the windshield to a nearby gauge when the need arose.

"Hey, Matt?" Link suddenly asked.

"Yeah?"

"Um…Why aren't we using space suits?" Link asked. "Don't we need those?"

"That's a good question, Link." Matt said. "I'm glad somebody asked. The reason we don't need suits is-"

Matt was drowned out by a chorus of, "One hundred bottles of root beer" sung by Kirby, Ness, and Pichu.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOO…Once there was a Cellar, Full o' shelves o' Root Beer!" The young smashers sang.

As they prattled on, LOUDLY, in the background, Paul engaged Fox in a short conversation.

"So…When do you think we'll get to the colony?" Paul asked.

"Impatient, are we?" Fox chortled.

"No!" Paul protested.

"Eh…Just pulling your leg." Fox shrugged. "It's hard to tell. I'm willing to guess about five to ten minutes. We're in a good shuttle."

"That'd be the first thing Eggman's built right." Sonic said.

"…And that is why we don't need space suits." Matt finished.

"Wow, that's…Neat!" Link exclaimed.

"Hey, I didn't hear, because of, you know, the singing?" Luigi said. "Could you please repeat that?"

"Sure!" Matt said, only too happy to oblige. He was drowned out by another round of One Hundred Bottles of Root Beer.

"Are we there yet?" Knuckles asked.

"No, we still have about a minute or so." Fox said.

THUMP!

"Hey! Watch it!" Link yelped, picking up a stunned Kirby. Kirby had fallen off the back of Ness's chair, and knocked the wind out of himself.

"Ugh…" Fox sighed. He turned his head back to the windshield, and his mouth shot open in surprise. "OH SHOOT!"

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMP!

There was a dull thunk, then a huge crash as the shuttle scrapped against a huge chunk of rock. There was a creaking noise followed by hissing, and Fox wrestled with the steering wheel to get the shuttle balanced.

"Knuckles, what are you doing!?!" Sonic yelled.

"The hatch opened up!" Knuckles said.

"Don't touch that lever!" Matt ordered.

"All that was in the hatch-" Sonic started saying, but Knuckles interrupted him and tossed him to the side. "DON'T TOUCH THAT LEVER!"

He punched the lever and broke it clean off, while activating it at the same time. The airlock on the ship unsealed, and the door to the outside of the shuttle flew open. Knuckles dived out of the ship after the master emerald shards floating about in space and everybody else clung to their seats for their lives. Fox gave up fighting with the wheel when it failed to respond.

"HOOOOOOOLLLLLD OOOOOOOOONN!" He yelled.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

"MAAAAAAAARRRRIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"POOOOOOOOOYOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

"PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"KNUCKLES, YOU IDIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The ship spun faster and faster, slamming everybody around the inside of the ship as it hurtled towards the space colony, completely out of control.

Paul fixed his gaze on the broken lever, and with a bit of willpower and a flick of his wrist, the lever flipped back to its original position. That bought Fox the chance to grab the wheel. The airlock sealed itself again, and he managed to get the wheel under control.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

He rolled the wheel to the right, making the ship barrel sharply to the left to dodge an inverted tower on the underside of the ark. Matt ran up and helped him push the wheel in the opposite directing, which made the ship narrowly miss another bigger tower.

"Over there!" Link yelled, pointing at a docking bay.

Fox finally got the shuttle to slow down, and with Matt's help, steered the ship into the landing area.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"That utter, complete BONEHEAD!" Sonic yelled in frustration. "Sometimes, I don't know what I'm going to do with him."

"…Where IS Knuckles, anyways?" Yoshi asked.

"He bailed." Matt sighed.

"Knuckles will be ok." Link assured the worried Yoshi. "Why? Because-"

Ness Kirby and Pichu suddenly felt like another round of One Hundred Bottles of Root Beer would cheer everybody up.

"We should look for Eggman." Tails shouted over the din. "We're wasting time!"

"Right!" Fox said. "So, what's the strategy?"

"The Ark was shut down around fifty years ago." Matt said. "What we need to do is find the Eclipse cannon and deactivate it."

"Let me guess, the Ark will be hard to explore because of its dilapidation?" Paul asked, waving a hand in the air.

"It shouldn't be that much trouble." Tails said. "This colony is in much better condition that you think."

"But THAT gives Eggman the advantage!" Sonic said. "We gotta take out that cannon, and fast!"

"That's our Sonic." Link said.

"I have something for the occasion." Tails said. He pulled out a yellow chaos emerald from a drawer in his machine.

"That emerald is a fake. What do you plan to do with it?" Paul asked.

"How'd you know?"

"The energy field around it is strange in comparison to the other two emeralds, that's why. I can sense things like that."

"Wow…Even a trained machine can't tell the difference." Tails said. "You're right: It IS fake. But, this baby is our ultimate trump card! It reverses the power of any chaos emeralds around it and causes a huge explosion, but it's a bit weaker than an ordinary emerald."

"That must have been really hard, making a FAKE emerald that can do all of that!" Fox said.

"Eh..Heh heh! I'd rather not talk about that…" Tails chuckled shyly.

"He caused a huge whopping blackout." Sonic winked and flashed one of his thumbs up.

"SONIC!"

"So…How are we going to pull this off?" Luigi asked, scratching his head.

"We need to deactivate the shields around the cannon, and insert this emerald JUST before the cannon fires." Tails said, still slightly flushed.

"What will happen then?"

"Fireworks, and lots of em!" Sonic said. "Let's get this party started. I can't wait to play with Eggman!"

"Sonic, I actually need you to insert the emerald in the cannon." Tails said. "You're the fastest, and Eggman's sure to have made a trap for you."

"Grr…"

"We can catch Eggman off guard this way." Matt said. "Tails, Paul, Luigi, Fox, Yoshi, and Ness can deactivate the shields, and Sonic and the rest of us can insert the emerald."

"Fair enough." Link said.

"Ok, you better keep up, because I'm not waiting!" Sonic said.

"Hey!" Matt yelled. Sonic zoomed off down the hallway, and Matt chased after him, followed by Link, Kirby, and Pichu."

"AGAIN!" Amy wailed. He chased after Sonic's team, barely keeping up.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few moments later, Tails blew open a floor panel that led to a room below. He jumped down the deep shaft, and crashed onto the ground below.

His machine made a huge set of foot shaped craters, then the other five smashers lightly landed on their feet next to the machine.

"Let's get rolling!" Tails cried. He fired two homing lasers at sentry robots guarding the door, and upon their destruction, the door activated at the disappearance of the locking signal. Air hissed as the door whooshed open, and the smashers ran down a hallway full of windows looking out into space.

Hatches opened in the ceiling and armed sentry droids flew down and fired lasers all over the place. The smashers split up and attacked the robots, which soon filled the room.

Fox flipped around the room, spinning his bladed staff around and slashing robots into bits with amazing speed. The sentry droids around him circled him, then flew at him in an attempt to crush him. He jumped into the air with a little bit of aid from his staff then fired a huge blast of flame from his staff with the leftover energy. The burst of energy incinerated the robots. He landed on the ground and resumed smashing the robots.

Paul morphed his sword into two hand held guns and went crazy shooting bursts of ice at robots, near and far. He fired concentrated waves of sound at frozen robots, and the vibrations caused them to shatter like glass. Ness busied himself with his PK moves while Luigi jumped about smashing robots with his hammer and sticking them together with lightning. Tails merely fired lasers at any robot stupid enough to be near him. Yoshi breathed fire on the sentry droids that got too close to everybody else, and occasionally ate a few of them and used the debris as bullets.

The room soon emptied of sentry droids. Junk lay strewn all over the room, and it was hard to walk without stepping on something and tripping.

The smashers walked over to the door, which opened up into a narrower hallway that twisted. There were a few more doors locked by sentry droids. Paul quickly and mercilessly shot them to bits with Firaga bullets, and they cleared air lock after air lock, running against time.

They soon hit a fork, with a door right in front of them, and a door on their right.

"…This is the way we need to go, but this door is locked." Tails said at length.

"I can feel the locking signal coming from that way!" Ness said, pointing at the door right ahead.

"I'll handle it." Fox said. He walked over to the door in question.

"Fox! Wait!" Tails protested.

Fox walked through the door, and into a small room with a pile of boxes in the middle.

"The switch must be underneath the boxes…" Fox said. He charged up a blast of energy and fired it at the boxes, and successfully destroyed the boxes.

There was a huge explosion as the energy collided with a previously hidden stash of dynamite, and the whole rear wall was blown out by the sudden shock. Fox yelled in surprise and fear, and turned to run from the void that welcomed him.

"FOX!" Tails screamed.

Fox activated his staff again and used its power to jet away from the gaping maw of space, but it only slowed his doom.

Thinking quickly, Yoshi lashed out his long sticky tongue and snared Fox's vest.

"Helpth Me!" Yoshi mumbled.

"Magnera!" Paul cried. He created an incredibly strong magnetic field aimed at Fox, and he finally screeched to a halt, neither budging towards safety or space.

Ness focused his powers, then began drawing Fox towards himself with his psychic power. Fox finally started moving towards the others, when the room started breaking up around him. Luigi whipped out his vacuum and hastened Fox's rescue, when the alarm on the ceiling blared and the door started closing!

"I'll hold it open! Hurry!" Tails cried. He wedged himself in between the doors, and fired a bolt of energy from a gun that deactivated the doors.

The air whistled and howled through the doors, and the smashers fought viciously to reel Fox back in. With a huge heave, everybody gave one last pull and shot backwards like a giant slingshot. They smashed right into tails and knocked his machine from between the doors, which regained control and slammed shut just as the last of the room vanished into the eternal blackness. The air screeched as the doors finished closing, and then just like that, the alarms stopped and the door locked.

Nobody moved. They were tired from their struggle, and the magic users were drained of their power. Yoshi mumbled in pain and massaged his ridiculously stretched tongue, which now extended an extra yard.

…BEEP!

The door next to them clicked, and whooshed open, revealing another air lock.

"…May as well move on. We can sit here forever." Tails said.

"Sorry." Fox apologized. "I should have paid more attention to your warning, Tails."

"Hey, don't sweat it." Tails smiled ruefully. "This lock will let us out into space, so be careful!"

The smashers steeled themselves, then walked into the room while trying to rest and regain a bit of energy.

The door closed and hissed shut behind them, then the door in front of them opened.

A big gust of air shot out the doors, which revealed a twisting walkway that led to another part of the ark. There was nothing below the walkway, just stars, and a smidgen of Ivalice's atmosphere.

"That sure is a long way down." Ness whistled.

Paul took one look over the edge, and then stood up as straight as a board. His face paled and turned white then quickly turned a shade of green that matched his vest.

"I forgot." Fox almost laughed. "Paul's afraid of heights!"

"…" Paul remained silent, but walked ahead and forced himself across the walkway, one step at a time, his eyes always fixed on the door ahead. The others followed him, careful to avoid losing their footing.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The team finally fought their way down to a last hallway, which ended in front of a huge sealed door. It was above one of the inverted towers, one of the larger ones near the center of the ark.

"Here goes…" Tails said. He charged up a large laser, then blasted the door clean off the wall. It slammed into the other side of a long tunnel that dropped right down. The smashers watched the door's progress as it fell downwards, and eventually lost itself to the dark below.

"I'll go first." Tails said. He directed his machine towards the opening, then jumped out into the open space. Fox jumped after him, followed by Ness, Yoshi, Luigi, and finally Paul.

They fell down the shaft which narrowed as it progressed. It suddenly opened up into a larger space. They landed with a thud on a moving platform, and suddenly, a surge of lightning fixed them to the ground.

The whole wall in front of them flickered, and then groaned with a metallic creak. The wall slid down slightly, revealing a center core protected by a shield. To the sides of it were two cannons, and on the wall and around it were twenty yellow glowing buttons.

The room was still for a few seconds, then with an alarming suddenness lasers and exploding balls of energy erupted from the wall. The smashers quickly retaliated with their own moves.

Tails shot down the balls of energy before they could explode on anybody, while Paul, Fox, Ness, Luigi, and Yoshi shot and hurled projectiles at the yellow buttons. It was a stationary shootout, with none of the targets moving anywhere. The machine took what it gave.

"Accursed self defense systems." Fox muttered as he reflected a laser and countered with a fireball. He almost got hit by a laser, but Ness erected a PSI magnet around him and absorbed the energy. He fired a powerful PK fire attack at the right side of the generator, and he was rewarded with the cracking and shattering of two of the yellow domes. Yoshi ducked and weaved under the lasers like he was boxing somebody.

He ducked under a laser, and waved back and forth under fire. He had a sudden urge to start break dancing. He threw himself down and spun on his saddle while lasers streaked past him, then he did a handstand as two lasers went on either side of his arm. He flipped into the air and gave a whoop of childish joy, miraculously managing not to get hit. He tossed an egg and another yellow dome exploded upon impact.

Luigi shot huge bursts of ice from his vacuum, which froze the cannons on the wall. Paul shattered them with a powerful blast of flame.

Very quickly afterwards, the smasher's combined efforts caused the wall to fizz and crackle, and the shield around the core finally wavered.

"Aura strike!"

"Firaga!"

"PK Freeze!"

"Fire!" Tails cried.

"Yoshi!"

"Uh…Ice!" Luigi said as he shot another blast of ice.

The attacks hit the core at the same time, and the room went dark as there was a tinkling noise like glass, and the remains of the core fell into the blackness below their feet.

The lightning below their feet stopped as suddenly as the core was destroyed, and they exercised their limbs, which were numb from the imprisoning energy field.

"So, how do we get out of here?" Fox asked Tails.

"Like this." Tails said. He jumped over the huge gap between the platform and the hollow where the core was, and a door opened in the wall behind it. "Come on!"

"…Gulp." Paul swallowed, then ran and soared over the gap while fighting the evil urge to look down. Everybody else jumped over without a fuss, then they proceeded into the hallway behind the door.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Ok.." Sonic said. "We're here!"

"So this is the control center…" Link said.

"Pi CHU!"

"Poyo…" Kirby gaped at the chaos emeralds embedded in the console above the computer. It was missing three. Even then, the wall sparkled with a bright sheen caused by the energy flowing through it. The cylindrical column the emeralds were housed in towered behind a computer console, in the middle of a large circular room that seemed to go up and down quite a ways. Below, there flowed a stream of data and images.

Link looked over the edge at the data drifting and spinning about, then shuddered and drew himself back in.

"Somehow, I don't think any good would happen if I fell into that stuff." Link said.

"No telling what would happen." Matt said.

Now, all we need to do is wait for Tails to give the word." Sonic said.

At the same moment, Sonic's radio gave off a burst of static.

"Sonic? Sonic! You read me?"

"Loud and clear, Tails!" Sonic affirmed.

"Good! So far the only trouble we've had is with the robots and the generator, but the shield's down now! You can insert the emeralds."

"Alright!" Sonic started walking forwards, when an anguished yell broke across the radio, freezing everybody in their tracks.

"AMY!" Tails yelled.

"Tails! What's G-"

"Tails, Tell Sonic to meet you back at the research facility! NOW!!"

"SONIC! Amy is-"

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTT!!!

"Tails!?!? TAILS!!!" Sonic roared into the radio, but he was met only with ominous static. "…Come on! We're going to save Amy and Tails, and everybody else!" Sonic said.

"Wait!" Matt said, but Sonic already bolted off. "Dang, talk about impulsive!"

He shot off after Sonic, and everybody else was left with no choice but to follow.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Tails watched apprehensively as the elevator door opened up, revealing Sonic, Matt, Link, Pichu, and Kirby, with Sonic holding the yellow emerald. Matt held the red and blue emeralds.

Tails sighed, but he dared not twitch. Just one wrong move, and Amy's eyes would dim one last time, never to sparkle again.

"So…" Eggman said. "You finally decided to come, eh?"

"What of it?" Sonic demanded.

"The Emeralds." Eggman said simply. "All it takes for Amy to go free, is for you to give me just three measly gems. It really isn't that hard."

Tails looked at Sonic out of the corner of his eye, and flicked his eyes up and down so only Sonic would see.

"Wow, you sure are big and bad now, Eggman!" Sonic said as he walked forwards. Eggman tightened his grip on the gun, and Amy's eyes started pouring tears.

"Matt…Give the emeralds to Sonic." Eggman ordered in a low voice. Matt complied, and tossed the emeralds to Sonic.

Sonic started walking forwards again, when he suddenly tripped. He lost his grip on the red and blue emeralds, and he fell right into the center of the room.

WHOOSH!

A glass tube descended right around him, and in seconds was imprisoned by a capsule.

"Crud." Matt whispered.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled, dismayed.

"You thought you could fool me with a FAKE emerald, didn't you?" Eggman asked in a casual voice, but it held a tone that suggested suspiciousness.

"…Huh? How did you know it was-"

"TAILS!" Sonic yelled in exasperation.

"…Because, you just told me, Fox boy!" Eggman laughed.

It was even worse the second time. Tails smashed his head on his steering wheel, stupefied that he had fallen for the trick a SECOND time, when he knew it could happen.

"…Good try, Smashers, but this will cost you dearly…" Eggman said. "Goodbye, Sonic the hedgehog!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Amy screamed.

Eggman flipped a switch in his machine without hesitation, and Sonic fell to Ivalice as a falling ball of fire.

Everybody watched in horror as the capsule exploded. It had happened so fast, everybody but Tails and Matt were caught off guard.

_Sonic, I hope you made it…_ Matt and Tails shared the same wish as they watched the remains of the capsule plummet to earth.

"…Tails, give me the real emerald, and I will release Amy, and let the rest of you walk out, ALIVE. I'm feeling generous today."

Everybody remained silent, and the only thing that could be heard was Amy's inconsolable sobbing.

"…No, Eggman." Ness sniffed.

"Huh?"

"I don't know who you think you are, but how could you kill Sonic in cold blood like that!?!?" Luigi yelled, his timidness dispelled by burning rage.

"But-"

"No buts!" Link said, stomping his foot on the ground. "There's no way you could say that wasn't murder. I refuse to kill you…"

"Still, that doesn't mean we won't punish you for it!" Paul yelled.

Eggman was rendered speechless by the ferocity of the people before him, and he was even more surprised still when Amy bolted from the room and disappeared on the other side of the elevator.

"…ALRIGHT!!! If that's how you want to play, it's your destruction!" Eggman declared. In a flash, he snatched up the two emeralds laying on the ground and fused them into his machine.

There was a huge flash, and the room seemed to darken as Eggman's machine gave off a purple glow. Everybody yelled as the lights above started flickering, and exploding.

The room went dark and all the light came from Eggman and the glowing green pipes below. The light was weak, and the room remained in shadow. The green light gave everything an unearthly texture and made the room slightly disturbing.

"…It's your end." Eggman said.

Everybody took up their stances, and silently hoped things would turn for the better.

Eggman shot forwards, and everybody else ran forwards to meet him in a battle that would decide whether history ran its original course, or if it would be distorted by just one mistake…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**I would have kept going, but now just seemed to be a good time to cut it short.**

**Next chapter, you all shall find out whether things turn for the better or worse! Um, I think there will be about three more chapters of this arc before it is over, maybe two. We'll just have to play it by ear and see.**

**Thank you all for waiting patiently (Or impatiently, I dunno)! I hope this chapter was a good deal better than the last. I actually enjoyed writing this chapter, and I think that mighta had an affect on how it turned out.**

**Let me know how I'm doing in a review! I'll update sometime soon, but when exactly, again, we shall see. It won't be a half a month or more, like last time.**

**Well, see ya! Take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	24. Victory? Or Defeat?

**Ehh…I hate to ask it, but I'm really just not living up to my former story, am I?**

**Either that, or I suck at starting stories…If that's the case, maybe I have some hope then.**

**ANYWAYS, This chapter is one step before utter craziness, if this chapter isn't crazy before the end. Just thinking about it…yeah, I'd have to say this arc will be three more chapters long for me to do it justice, including this chapter.**

**Well! We'll see how it turns out, I suppose. I sure hope I'm doing ok…**

**(BIG sweatdrop)**

**Well, here goes!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The air in the room rippled from the collision as the smashers and their enemy crashed.

Eggman's ship was a whole lot sturdier and powerful with the emeralds. Even then, there was still something a little off…

"Ha ha ha!" Eggman laughed. "You don't stand a chance!" He pressed a button on his dashboard and the rocket launchers on his ship opened up. There was a flash of heat, and flaming streaks of energy ricocheted around the room.

The temperature in the room instantly shot up twenty degrees, and gigantic flaming explosions rocked the room.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Ness was scorched and slammed against a wall by one of the explosions and before another explosion could hit him, Fox ran in front of him and created a protective veil with his staff.

"Those are missiles!" Matt yelled in shock. He looked at one of the flaming projectiles, and sure enough, it was a missile. It was going so fast it caught on fire and the jet coming out the back of it was a whole lot stronger as well.

Eggman suddenly shot out of the smoke towards Matt, who was slightly surprised. He reacted too slowly, and a giant flaming boxing glove popped out of the machine. It smashed into Matt's shoulder and blew him away and also burned his arm and left it numb. Eggman let loose another volley of missiles, but a Gravity spell from Paul caused them all to hit the ground and explode on their source.

Eggman yelled as the explosion hurled him at one of the glass windows, but a quick blast of his thrusters stopped him before he hit them. Link swirled towards him spinning his sword while Fox shot in from the right. Eggman quickly stepped backwards and to the right, dodging both the smashers as they hurtled past. Luigi fired a glob of ice which Eggman blew up with his gun then he blocked a volley of lasers from tails with a bubble. Kirby slammed his hammer against the shield which flickered for a second. Ness hit Eggman with a blast of ice and froze Eggman's hand solid.

The evil doctor flexed his hand angrily and scattered ice everywhere, then backed up and held out both the emeralds.

"Chaos…MIRROR!" Eggman yelled.

A bubble of shimmering air surrounded his machine, then a flash of red and blue energy crossed it. The shield solidified with a flash or purple light, then Eggman charged at the smashers while running inside an impenetrable shield.

The smashers scattered as Eggman charged at them like a giant bowling ball, but Tails stood his ground.

"For Sonic's sake, I will DEFEAT YOU!" Tails cried.

There was a flash as Tails held the REAL yellow emerald in the air. He inserted it into his ship's engine, and cried, "CHAOS….CHARGE!"

His ship lit up like a star, and lightning danced across its surface like ribbons in a gale.

Just before Eggman hit him, Tail's machine zoomed out of the way at an unbelievable speed, and fired streaks of yellow energy that pierced the bubble at struck Eggman's machine.

"GAH!" Tails fired another few lasers which were repelled by Eggman's shield.

"You won't catch me off guard like THAT again!" Eggman growled.

Somehow the odd seemed even now. The smashers regrouped around Tails for another round, and Eggman faced them, his eyes glowing with purple light from the emeralds.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"…Huh?" Knuckles wondered aloud. He was wandering a dark hallway in the ARK, when he felt a distorted energy flow.

"…It feels familiar, but I just can't place a finger on it…" Knuckles said as he stroked his chin. "….WHOA!?!?"

He fell back just as there was a huge flash, and Sonic floated to the ground, holding the fake emerald in his hands.

"Even easier a second time, Knux!" Sonic said. "How ya doing?"

"…GASP…You almost gave me a heart attack, even AFTER I remembered you were supposed to appear here!"

"Eh…" Sonic shrugged.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" Sonic asked as he crossed his arms.

"DUH, don't you have, oh, I don't know, _something to do?_" Knuckles asked.

"Oh! Sorry, catch ya later!" Sonic yelped. He ran off like a scalded frog and left Knuckles behind in a cloud of dust.

"What…A…Airhead." Knuckles coughed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BAM!

Fox's body slightly wrapped around the purple shield as he collided with it, then he bounced off it like a rubber ball.

The smashers bounced off the shield like bowling pins, and there was nothing they could do to break through it. Eggman seemed to thicken the shield with his willpower right exactly where each attack hit it, and he moved around too much which prevented anybody getting any solid hits.

"HA HA Ha Ha Ha!" Eggman laughed. "You're all hopeless! The Eclipse Cannon shall fire, and I will win! HA HA!"

"Ha…Ha…He's too well protected!" Link panted.

"How can we hurt him?" Matt wondered.

"I think we can hit him if we hit him with an incredibly powerful blast…" Ness said uncertainly. "Can we do that?"

"I can try!" Tails said. "You guys distract him while I charge up a laser!"

"Did I hear somebody say…'laser'?" Eggman asked in a childish voice. "What a good idea! EAT THIS!"

"YOW!" Luigi yelped. He dived out of the way as Eggman fired a huge purple ray of energy and blasted a hole in the wall that faced the rest of the research facility. He followed up with another volley of missiles, except they were icy.

They homed in on Pichu, who was cowering in the corner with fright. She screeched and tried running away but the missiles created a wall of ice around her that trapped her!

Eggman hurtled towards her again, but Fox did the unexpected.

"Oh no you don't!"

He shot forwards with his spear, and spin kicked Eggman with enough force to knock him off balance.

"ARGH!" He missed the wall of ice completely and got stuck in the wall. Matt ran up and punched through the ice and rescued Pichu from the freezing prison.

"I'm all charged!" Tails said. "Hyper Laser, FIRE!"

He stepped out into the open, and there was a huge roar as a white beam shot from his ship and slammed into Eggman's shield. Eggman instantly strengthened his shield where the laser was hitting him, and he negated the beam.

"Too bad. I know you tried so hard!" He laughed.

"H-How!?!" Tails said.

"We'll take this from here." Matt said. "Go find cover, Now!"

"Ok…If you say so!" Tails sighed. He ran out the ruined door into the hallway.

"You're just going to lose faster without him." Eggman said.

"THAT is where you're wrong." Ness said.

"SPELLBLADE LIMIT!" Link yelled.

Link thrust his right hand into the air and his Triforce flashed once, then Paul and Ness put their arms up next to his. There was a flash as the Triforce separated from his hand, then Paul fused his sword into the Triforce and Ness spiced it up by using Psi Magnet on it and hitting it with PK Rocking.

The Triforce piece shone like a rainbow and was surrounded by a sphere of rainbow colored energy. Link slashed it with his Master Sword and the triangle exploded. Eggman yelled as the whole room exploded with a cloud of magic energy, then it collapsed on the three smashers and fused into their bodies.

The three smashers floated back to back, and they raised their hands at the same time. They flew at Dr. Robotnik, and transparent rainbow blades spun around them as they held their hands out. The swords spun around like a saw blade, cutting through the shield and hitting the machine. The swords then spun around slashing wildly.

The swords disappeared and the team members jumped back. A sword materialized in each of their hands, a hilt with a ghost of a blade coming from it.

Ness slashed horizontally and his sword burst into liquid flames, Link swung downwards as his sword turned into a solid blade of ice, and a burst of lightning exploded from Paul's sword as he swung it diagonally.

"Gravity!"

"PK Fire!"

"Holy!"

"PK Blizzaga!"

"Thundaja!"

"Fire Spin attack!"

Paul cast magnera another time while Ness cast PSI Rocking. The balls of energy swirled around the magnetic field like flies, then Link cast gravity on it and slammed his sword into the solid ball of rainbow energy. The sphere hurtled at Eggman and slammed into his machine, creating a multicolored explosion.

Paul created magnetic fields all over the place while Ness fired multicolored orbs everywhere. Link solidified the swirling masses of energy and batted them all at Eggman who was starting to get too tired to even yell.

They regrouped one last time, and cast PSI Magnet, Magnega, and Graviga in the air above their heads.

"CHARGE!" They yelled. Fox fired as much magic from his staff as he could while shooting lasers from his gun. Matt fired at the shield continually and Luigi fired ice globs at it. Pichu used Thoron which charged it up a good bit and Kirby used charged up star beams.

"Chaos Laser!" Tails yelled. He jumped out of the door and fired a super powered laser at the sphere. A huge glowing ball of pure energy collected above the smasher's heads, and when the three limit partners could hold it no longer, they released it.

Huge explosions spontaneously exploded throughout the room, making everybody scream as the room flashed. It looked like a fireworks show only the explosions were much fiercer.

The attack faded just as there was two bright flashes from where Eggman was, and the two emeralds he was using turned grey.

"What!?!?!" He yelled. Then he understood. "OH NO!!!!!!!"

Link ran up to him and hit him with a spin attack. The sword bit into the robot and released a shower of sparks. Matt hit him with a super punch, Pichu used Thunder, Paul used his Fire Serpent attack, Ness used PSI Rocking, Luigi used Green missile, Fox used Fire Fox, Yoshi popped out of nowhere and fired a huge egg, Kirby used Final Cutter, and Tails fired a storm of homing lasers.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Finally…Made it." Sonic said.

He was at the cannon control room, and was about to insert the fake emerald when Shadow spoke from behind him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Shadow…Long time no see." Sonic said as he turned around.

"…How did you use Chaos Control?" Shadow asked. "With a fake emerald?"

"I don't know." Sonic said.

"There has to be more to you than I can see. Unfortunately, Sonic the Hedgehog, it all ends here!"

"…"

BOOM!

The two hedgehogs ran at each other faster than the speed of sound, and tackled each other.

They hit each other with a huge amount of force, but the collision knocked both of them off the walkway and over the edge.

They fell for a bit, then they managed to right themselves. They ran down the tubular walls, and glared at each other.

"As much as I now respect you, you still have to die!" Shadow said.

"Do you really have to be so severe?" Sonic asked. "We used to be friends, ya know!"

"I've only met you once before, in the jungle!!" Shadow yelled, angry. "Stop messing with me!"

"If you say so!" Sonic said. "SONIC WIND!"

Shadow jumped out of the way of the wall of razor wind, then made a bit of space around Sonic explode. Sonic evaded the attack by dashing forwards ahead of the explosion, then he jumped from side to side of the tube at high speed. He lunged at Shadow who instantly teleported.

"Chaos SPEAR!" Shadow yelled. He waved his hand and a row of yellow energy arrows appeared. They homed in on Sonic and stabbed him.

_Shoot. I guess I'm out of practice against this guy._ Sonic thought as he clutched his bleeding wounds.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Ouch…" Eggman groaned. He lay on the ground on his back, rolling slightly side to side as if he were having a nightmare. His hand was on his chest, but he put it on the ground next to him. He decided being still was the best way to avoid pain at the moment.

His Egg Walker lay in a heap on the other side of the room: It was destroyed by the combined attacks of the smashers after the shield fell.

"Sonic, we did it." Tails spoke into the radio, wondering if Sonic would hear him.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BEEP BEEP!

"Oh, what now!?!" Sonic fussed. He fumbled with his phone, but Shadow blasted it out of his hands.

"No interruptions." Shadow said.

"Have it your way!" Sonic said.

They jumped at each other again.

The air rippled around them as they punched and kicked each other faster than the speed of sound.

Shadow spun around and attempted to karate chop Sonic, who blocked with his arm and whirled around with his foot out. Shadow rolled in the air and Sonic's foot whirled past his face. While upside down, he blasted Sonic away with a blast of Chaos energy.

Sonic flipped in the air and landed on the wall with his feet, then ran down the wall in a circle as Shadow fired Chaos Spear after Chaos Spear at him. Sonic's constant running created a whirlwind that snared Shadow, and while he was distracted, Sonic tackled him then kicked off of him. The chaos spears that were chasing Sonic headed towards Shadow, threatening to spear him. He crossed his arms in an x across his chest and erected a shield, and the explosion of the spears hitting him blasted him towards the wall.

He vanished before he hit and before Sonic could react the black hedgehog was behind him. Shadow brought his hands above his head and slammed them down on Sonic's head. Stars erupted inside his skull from the attack and he lost his balance. Shadow warped in front of him and rammed his knuckles into his chin, then warped to his right side and spin kicked him into the wall.

Sonic curled up and bounced off the wall, too stunned by the vicious attacks to move.

_Wait a sec…Don't I still have my crystal ring?_

He looked at his hand, and around his wrist was the blue crystal bracelet. Then he looked at his light shoes.

"Finished already, Sonic?" Shadow asked. "I thought you were stronger than this!"

"I am." Sonic said. "Speed heal!" His bracelet flashed, and his wounds quickly healed.

"Now how did you do that?" Shadow asked.

"All I did was speed up time and let my wounds heal naturally." Sonic said. "Wanna see what else I can do?"

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

"SPEED BREAK!"

Shadow froze time around them with a surge of chaotic energy, yet, Sonic was unaffected. Sonic shot a ray of light at Shadow from his wrist, and as suddenly as he fired it, he vanished.

Shadow watched in slow motion as the ray of light zoomed towards him, then he saw Sonic running along the beam of light, right at him!

BAAAAAAAAM!

Sonic's fist met the side of Shadow's face, sending him flying. All feeling left the side of his face where Sonic hit him.

"With these two items, there's no time limit for me, pal!" Sonic crowed triumphantly. Shadow didn't have a chance to respond. Sonic ran at him again, on another beam of light, and punched him in the side. He continued firing rays all over the place, using them as highways to move around. He came up behind Shadow and spin attacked him in the back, and while he was still flying, he ran around in front of Shadow and kicked him in the face. He spun around to his side and slugged him in the chest. He then kicked him across the face, chest, and the legs while break dancing, then spun on the palm of his hand and planted his feet on Shadow's back. He kicked him towards the wall, and warped din front of him one final time.

He released a spreading sphere of light that encompassed him and Shadow. Sonic moved so fast, everything but him stopped completely. He Hit every single square millimeter of Shadow with a variety of kicks, punches, shockwaves, spin attacks, and crazy break dancing.

Sonic finished with a sound-breaking punch, and re-absorbed the light he released.

All in a split nanosecond, the attacks hit Shadow and instantly knocked him out.

Sonic then grabbed Shadow's hand.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

Time froze again, and he ran up back to the control room and set Shadow down on the walkway carefully. He walked over to the cannon controls and pulled the fake emerald out.

"Here goes everything." Sonic muttered. He looked at the emerald, then pulled his hand back and tossed the gem like a baseball.

It fit into its designated slot like a key, and a flash lit the room up.

"Eclipse Cannon: Fire." A computerized voice spoke out over the intercom.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BEEP! BEEP!

Tails quickly seized his radio and turned it on.

"You wanted fireworks, everybody? Look outside!"

Tails and the smashers ran over to the room's windows, and looked down at the point of the cannon.

The end split into four different rods and spread out, then a wave of green energy pulsed up all of them at the same time and charged up a ball of energy.

The ball suddenly imploded, and the cannon below exploded horrifically, shaking the whole colony. The rods sparked furiously, then there was one final explosion that made the ground ripple.

They stopped the eclipse cannon!

"YEAH!" Link cheered.

"WHOO HOO!" Ness yelled.

Everybody shook hands and shared a few moments of merriment, but it was ended prematurely.

"Poy o!" Kirby gasped. Everybody turned around to see what he had "Uh oh-ed" about.

"Eggman's gone!?!" Fox asked.

"He took the emeralds, too!" Luigi said.

The lights flashed again, and the colony started shaking like it was in an earthquake. One of the screens in the lab flashed on, and a dire message rang across the speakers…

"This is a death sentence for all on planet Earth…" An old hoarse voice rasped.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**So…Ok. Whatever.**

**Say whatever. I am sorry if it stank, but I am seriously trying my best with this arc.**

**2 more chapters, then we can move on.**

**I've been having a hard time with the big battles, because when there is ten smashers, they get a little hard to keep track of! SERIOUSLY! I AM AT MY SKILL'S LIMITS. If you need to see what I'm doing, try typing a chapter like this yeself. Maybe you'll appreciate it a tiny bit more…**

**Enough of that, though. I put an opinion poll in my forum, for anybody interested. I think it's a fun feature, and I'm glad they added it.**

**I typed all this up in one night, after school. WITH fat breaks.**

**I hope it's long enough…**

**Well, see ya all next time, and take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	25. The Biohazzard

**OK! I made a decision.**

**Quite simple, really.**

**LAST CHAPTER of this arc, peoples! I suck at making a good chapter out of action levels on Sonic games, SO, no action level stuff.**

**Of course, as it is with about half of my arcs, there are spoilers here and there, but by now anybody interested in SAB2 would have played it so I'm not worried about spoiling anything.**

**With that random tripe outta the way, I think it's time ta start.**

**YES! Please do not hate me for skipping stuff, but it is for your own enjoyment and to lessen my mortification at falling below my standards. May as well be done and get back to the original stuff, huh?**

**Well, let's go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"There goes the simplicity of it all." Matt sighed.

"WHAT!?!?" Link yelled. "I'm still lost as a girl without a compass!"

"PICHU!" (Take that back!)

"Now I'M lost…" Luigi said, scratching his head.

"Ok, let me get this straight." Ness said. "This Professor Gerald Robotnik, who is long dead, in his last moments, devised a heinous plot to destroy the whole world to get revenge?!?!"

"In short." Fox affirmed.

"Crazy." Paul said. "'Specially when you consider this is fifty years later. Some time to get revenge. "

"POYO!"

The ground started shaking a little bit harder, and the space around the windows started glowing slightly.

"We're running out of _time_…" Link growled, looking outside the window and clenching his fist.

"Is it just me…" Paul asked, "Or is it getting hotter?"

"Of course it's getting hotter." Matt said. "We'll burn up unless we do something, and now!"

"Sounds like you could use my help…"

"Oh, you!" Knuckles yelled.

"I think we'll have to put our differences aside for the moment." Rouge said, walking into the room. "My agent just called…We have ten minutes until impact."

"Wait…'agent'? You wouldn't happen to be in cahoots with the government, right?" Matt asked.

"Now, why would such a handsome boy like you worry about that?" Rouge asked coyly.

"Eh, no particular reason." Matt said. He turned to Fox and mouthed a few words. "_She's a secret agent! She might be an enemy._"

"_Aye, Captain._" Fox said.

"Gerald Robotnik…"

"Eggman!?!" Sonic yelled as Dr. Robotnik walked into the room.

"…He was one of the greatest scientific minds ever, and also my grandfather."

"Dude, that would explain your obsession with destroying the world." Yoshi shrugged.

"Poy YO!" Kirby said.

"I never knew he planned this, though…But if only I had come up with it first!"

"AHEM…If you're going to talk like that in front of us…" Link said as he drew his sword and got into his stance.

"What would I accomplish destroying the whole planet? Maybe a little bi-NEVER mind!" Eggman shouted. "I'm not here to cause trouble. At this rate, every single life on Ivalice will be extinguished while we waste our time here bickering! I know you may disagree with my motives, but right now, we all have a few things in common: We're all in the same 'boat' and if we keep wasting time, it's our necks on the line."

"So you're saying you'll help?" Tails asked hopefully.

"That goes for me as well." Rouge said.

"…As long as you don't cause trouble, I accept…" Knuckles said. "But don't say I didn't warn you! One wrong move, and I'll crush you!"

"Cool it, Knuckles." Matt said. "I'll take ALMOST any help we can get at this point."

"ANNNNNNND…Seven minutes." Paul ticked off as he looked at his watch.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" Everybody yelled.

"Good news is, I'm a genius and I know how to get to the core fast!" Tails smiled widely.

"REALLY!?!?!" Sonic and Matt asked over enthusiastically.

"Yeah, there's an exhaust shaft hidden in a closet in the bathroom in that one abandoned lab where I found the blueprints that showed the whole ark's structure and blah blah blah…"

"Ok, we get the picture…" Matt sighed and slapped his forehead.

"If we take the shaft, we can make it to the core in two minutes!" Tails said. "Let's get going."

"PiCHU!" Pichu squealed.

"B-B-But I'm claustrophobic!" Luigi wailed at the retreating figures of his friends. He went unheard, and he followed after them, shaking violently.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Here we are!" Tails said as he kicked the grate out of the vent.

"Eeeee…Smelly." Link said.

"Come on, even I won't chicken out at this point in time! In we go!" Eggman said. He dived into the shaft first. Luigi screamed his disapproval, but Fox tossed him in. Everybody filed in afterwards with little delay, and then they all fell down the shaft to the cannon's core.

They fell for about a minute when Ness made an unhelpful discovery.

"Hey, is it just me, or are the walls getting closer together?" He asked.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, the shaft IS getting a little-"

POOMH!

"OOOWWW!" Eggman yelled.

POOMH

POOMH

POOMH

POOMH  
POOMH  
POOMH!

"What!!?!? Why'd we stop!?!?" Tails asked, crushed between Yoshi and Kirby's soft doughy body.

"…Eggman's stuck in the vent!" Link groaned.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Luigi screamed.

"NOW!?!? At a time like this!!?!? WHY!!?!?!?!??" Fox wailed.

"We need to get a huge thrust, and push down! Any ideas?" Matt asked, annoyed.

"Um…No." Link said.

"I don't have anything like that up my sleeves." Paul said. "Maybe Luigi, Pichu, or Ness could do it."

"I can't use PK Thunder on myself in here!" Ness said. "I'd cook everybody!"

"PICHU!"

"It's up to you, Luigi!" Fox said.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

"Luigi, we nee-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

"Luigi! Stop thi-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

"We're wasting time, and if we keep this up, we'll DI-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Move already!" Link yelled. He reached past Paul with his sword and pricked Luigi's bottom. The pain and humiliation of being stabbed in his butt was too much. Luigi lost control, and somehow (Ugly maneuver) He shot forwards and pushed Eggman down the Fat-man-squeeze.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Luigi screamed. His fart-powered green missile gave him an explosive boost, and the 'floor' was yanked out from under the smashers so quickly, Gravity was surprised and took a few seconds to react.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

They fell down the shaft even faster as the vacuum created by Luigi's rapid descent pulled on them, and when they exited the shaft twenty seconds later they shot out like a bullet. They fell from the ceiling of a huge dark room, and plummeted to the watery ground below. They hit the wetness with a huge slap, then they painfully picked themselves up.

"Here we are." Matt said.

"I think I lost fifty pounds…" Eggman said as he looked at his squashed body.

"You'll regain it soon enough, Boxman." Sonic smiled meanly.

"Why, you!!!!" Eggman roared.

"Shuuuuuuuuuut UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!!" Ness yelled, by far the most annoyed.

"Alright, since I have the Emerald Blade, I carry the main force of the master emerald's power." Matt said. "I need to get to the shrine to deactivate the emeralds!"

"Right, do you need me to carry you over the water then?" Sonic asked.

"If ANYBODY needs to be carried over, it's you!" Matt retorted.

Sonic's face screwed up with shock and fear, and everybody laughed, especially Eggman, at Sonic's fear of water.

Suddenly, there was a terrific roar, and data based images started flowing out of a rip in space.

"Here it comes!" Tails yelled.

"Here comes WHAT!?!?" Link asked.

He was answered when there was a blinding flash, and another roar. A huge blind dinosaur's head shot forwards out of the ball of light and sprayed spittle on the little heroes. The light vanished and a huge orange monster fell into the circular water channel in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, it was between them and the shrine…

The beast was like a giant salamander, only it was obese. It had huge gills on the sides of its body and some strange flaps of skin like extra tails near its big, thick, twisting tail. There were two green hoses connected to the sides of its head, which ran up its long neck and up to a giant circular device on its back, which had a glowing red bubble in the center.

"What do we do!?!?" Fox asked, worried.

"This is what you do: Leave it to me."

"Shadow?" Luigi asked. "Shadow! What are you doing here?"

"I found I made a fatal error…." Shadow said. "I wish to make amends, and also, I have a promise to keep. I'll hold it off, while you get the chaos emeralds…Matt!"

"Thank you, Shadow!" Matt smiled sincerely. "Sonic, Knuckles, Let's go!"

The smashers ran off to the shrine, and Shadow turned to face the Biolizard.

"Alright, come here, you freak!" Shadow yelled, holding his hands out.

The giant monster roared, and the showdown between the two ultimate life forms began.

The Biolizard lowered its tail and its neck across the walkway, and turned around in a circle in an attempt to get Shadow within biting range.

Shadow dashed towards the head at high speed, and just as it lunged to swallow him whole, he shot into the air and flipped over its head. He landed on the other side out of its sight, and fired a jet of chaos energy at its neck.

The energy struck an invisible membrane, and there was a ripple as the chaos spear vanished.

"What?" Shadow asked in surprise. The Biolizard whirled around and slammed its head into shadow, knocking a slight bit of wind out of him. He regained his balance just as the experiment tried crushing him, and he rolled out from under it before it crushed the ground. He skated away as it turned to face him again, and he turned his head back in time to see it cough up a ball of anti-matter that flew at him.

The ball soared towards him and he rolled under it as the lizard spat up another antimatter ball. He flipped over it and landed on his hands, and back flipped towards the lizards head. It lunged at him again and he jumped into the air again, backwards.

"Chaos…Burst!" Shadow said. He teleported down and covered himself in a swirling sphere of Chaos energy but the attack was absorbed by the invisible shield around the Biolizard. He noticed the lizard was holding still, panting to get rid of excess heat.

"Hmm." He hopped onto the pipes hanging by the lizard's head, and grinded up to the top where the life support dome appeared. He charged up a Chaos spear, and jumped over the dome and released the chaos spear.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!

The dome cracked and gave off a huge burst of flames, and the Biolizard roared in pain. Shadow landed behind the lizard, and grabbed its tail as it swiped it at him. He tried running up its tail to its back, but he had a hard time because the shield was like gel. He hot to the top, and blasted the dome with a burst of chaos energy. The explosion threw him back in front of the lizard's head, which lunged at him. He almost dodged it, and its lower jaw pushed him off balance. He teleported a few feet away and fired a chaos spear at it to get its attention.

It turned towards him and chased him for a little bit, then shot more balls of darkness. He jumped over the first blast, warped through the second, then landed and spun around the third. He spun into the air and kicked the lizard on its snout, causing it to roar in anger. He glided around it as it lunged again and grabbed its right pipe with his hand. The jerk gave him a bit of momentum, and he spun around the pipe and let go, sending him into the air. The lizard sensed him and bit at him again. He used his hands to fall to the side, just missing the maw of the Biolizard. He landed on the pipe with his shoes and grinded up the pipe to its life support system, where he used a spin attack. He was flung off by the explosion a second time, and as he fell back, he uncurled and fired another spear.

The lizard roared as the first spear hit its back, but the second spear only caused its roar to double in intensity. It viciously snapped at Shadow who once again skillfully evaded the bite. The lizard then pulled its head way up into the air and curled its tail up, and roared loudly. There was a rumbling, and strange noises as red bubbled materialized around the lizard's body, forming a spread out dome of bubbles.

Shadow hesitated for a moment, then one of the bubbles rose up and soared towards him. He sidestepped it at the last second where it popped on the ground next to him. He looked up to see a whole cluster of bubbles rise above the lizard.

"Crap." Shadow muttered.

The bubbles started firing at him at high speed, and he ran around the Biolizard in circles, dodging them. He finally saw one close to the ground, and he jumped into the air and used a homing attack. he hit it and was propelled into the air, where he spun away from another bubble that almost hit him. He landed on another bubble just as he started spinning, and he shot closer to the dome. He kicked one last bubble and flew towards the dome, where he hit it at point blank range with a chaos spear.

The bubbles ruptured all at the same time, and the lizard gave one agonized roar before flashing.

Instantly, Shadow felt gravity vanish, and he found himself spinning around the Biolizard helplessly as it summoned more bubbles. He watched as the shield around the lizard made buds, and the bubbles broke off and turned red.

The bubbles swirled around Biolizard like a galaxy, and Shadow had to maneuver himself to avoid getting hit. He charged up one last super powerful chaos spear, then let it loose. It ripped through all of the bubbles in the way, and then crashed into the life support system with a horrific explosion.

The Biolizard roared one last time before falling on the ground limp. Its body glowed with energy, then, in a bright flash it was gone.

"It used Chaos Control!" Shadow gasped. He turned to the shrine, where Matt and Knuckles had just activated the Emerald Blade and the leftovers of the Master Emerald.

There was another flash as the chaos emeralds' power failed. The space station started shaking, and everybody was knocked off their feet. Shadow teleported over to the shrine, where he helped Matt up.

"What happened?" Matt asked, dazed.

"The Biolizard escaped." Shadow said. "It might have something to do with what just happened."

Gerald Robotnik voice echoed out again.

"The Biolizard has fused itself to the Ark, and will keep it on its destined course. There will be no stopping the ark from hitting at this point."

"We only have four minutes!" Tails wailed.

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other for the longest moment, then they nodded at each other.

"Let's do this, Shadow." Sonic said.

"I can't fail now." Shadow said.

The smashers gathered around, and the Chaos Emeralds descended and hovered around them. The emeralds spun around the smashers faster and faster, until they were a blur around them.

The air around them started glow, and there was an explosion of energy.

Sonic and Shadow floated upwards as their bodies started giving off immense amounts of energy, and their bodies turned gold and silver, respectively. The smashers glowed with a golden aura.

"We have a world to save!" Sonic said. "Let's go!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

**In-chappy notes:**

**While reading this fight, try playing Sonic Adventure Battle 2 music in your head, or something like dat. This'll hopefully be freaking awesome!**

**Yeah, don't let me take up your hard earned break time, though. Keep readin'!**

**oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

At the tip of the ARK's cannon, the Biolizard was attached. With its nerves connected to the ark's computer network, the whole structure was now essentially the lizard.

With ONLY one weak point.

Itself. Its own body, which hung nearly useless from the tip of the cannon.

It roared as the smashers flew towards it from far away, and the heroes stopped just out of its range.

"Alright, the life support on the Biolizard is damaged, so it doesn't have its shield anymore." Sonic instructed.

"I've scanned its body, and as we speak it is dying and losing control of its body." Tails observed. "If you see any sores, attack!"

"Eww!" Ness groaned.

The smashers flew forwards, and attacked.

The Biolizard turned its head and opened its mouth, and shot a huge black laser from its maw. The smashers instantly split up as the laser came at them, and flew around it and debris scattered throughout the space.

Sonic reached the lizard first, and spun about acrobatically before kicking a large ulcer on the lizard's side. Then he let loose a super powered Sonic Wind attack, which wounded the lizard more that the kick did.

The lizard kicked him away with what was left of its left leg, then the cannon around it glowed. A bubble of pure energy surrounded it, just as Link and a few of the other smashers reached it. They bounced off and shouted in surprise.

Shadow shot past them, right towards the shield.

"CHAOS BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He yelled. He spread his arms and legs out as much as he could, and released a gigantic red explosion of chaos energy. The shield and the red dome bent like two bubbled being forced together, then they imploded and blasted everybody back as the Biolizard was tormented by burning hot energy. The Biolizard summoned a wall of red bubbles and fired them at Pichu.

"PICHU!"

Pichu's body exploded with golden lightning, and she shot forwards. She blasted through all of the bubbles, and hit the experiment like a nuclear warhead. A huge crackling sphere of lightning enveloped the lizard and Pichu. Luigi sucked all the lightning with his vacuum, and fired it back out in a thick stream of plasma. Ness touched the trail and shot down it like a missile, and he went so fast he went completely through the lizard's side and out the other.

While Ness shot above, Matt flew under the lizard on his back, and fired golden bullets into the biolizard's underbelly. He finished shooting it and flew up to its face, then pounded its head fiercely with his metal fist. The chaosuranium that made up his metal arm was influenced by the chaos energy, and the metal a bright gold color, and gave off lots of light.

Sonic flew past, and spin kicked the head as he passed. Link fired a super light arrow and hit it in the side, and Paul got up close and froze the giant hole in its side shout with Glacier Break. Yoshi threw a golden egg, and Kirby made it super big with the star rod.

The giant egg soared through space, but before it reached the lizard it shot a beam at hit and knocked it back into the two gluttonous smashers. It flailed, and before Matt, Sonic, and Paul could get away, they were hit upside the head with the experiment's legs. They drifted to the sides like stunned fish in water.

The lizard roared again, and created a whole sphere of bubbles around its body. The bubbles whizzed through space like hornets, and it followed up with lasers it shot out of wormholes. Shadow grimaced in annoyance, and fired Chaos spears at bubbles that threatened to hit anybody near him. He sensed a bubble coming at him from behind but he misjudged its speed. He turned and the bubble slammed into his face and popped, sending him towards the lizard.

Sonic, who was far away from the fight, summoned a spring from nowhere and slammed into it as fast as he could. He shot off from it and soared towards the lizard, just as it grabbed Shadow in its jaw. He tackled it hands first, making it gasp in pain and release Shadow, who fired a chaos spear right down its throat.

There was a muffled explosion and it coughed out a wisp of smoke.

"Time to team UP!" Sonic shouted. He and Shadow locked hands, and charged up their energy to unleash a double powerful Chaos Blast. While the lizard's head was up, he and Shadow spun over, and while spinning around like they were sky diving, they kicked and punched its head. Sonic used Sonic Wind again, this time on himself and Shadow, and they spun like a buzz saw. They drilled into the lizard using their feet as blades, then they kicked back and charged up a finale.

Sonic and Shadow both used a spin dash, and Sonic held Shadow in his hands like a basketball as he spun, charging him with energy all the while.

When Shadow was glowing like a miniature star, Sonic uncurled himself mid-spin, and threw Shadow at the Biolizard.

Shadow hurtled towards the experiment, and before it could shoot him down with a laser, he slammed into it and unleashed his most powerful Chaos Burst yet.

A white hot bubble of chaos energy expanded from Shadow, and the Biolizard screeched continuously, rising in pitch as the explosion enveloped it all the way.

It uttered one last, and final gasp, and fell lifeless, dangling from the cannon like it had just been speared there.

The smashers regrouped, just as the air started glowing red.

"We're out of time." Link said simply.

"We failed." Fox said.

"Not yet, we didn't." Sonic said. "Lend me and Shadow your power, and I'll show you how we will win!"

They nodded, and watched Sonic and Shadow start charging up a huge ball of golden energy. Everybody else flew towards them and started channeling their energy also, then Sonic and Shadow flew towards the station, holding the ball in between them, with everybody else following.

"This…This is for you, Maria…" Shadow said softly. He closed his eyes, and pumped more energy into the orb, energy he needed. Paul sensed him put his last bit of energy into the orb, but before he could say anything, Sonic and Shadow Ark was enveloped in a huge sphere of golden energy, and huge beams of light erupted from it as space started to distort around it. Rings of light surrounded it, and after one final rumble, the station vanished in a huge flash.

Paul turned as quickly as he could and reached out his hand, but he was too late.

Shadow's aura flickered, and he fell back slowly at first, then the silver receded from his body.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

Shadow smiled, just a simple, peaceful smile, then fell back to earth with his eyes closed.

By now everybody was watching. Shadow fell backwards as if he were falling backwards out of a plane, just simply skydiving.

But at the height he was at, he wouldn't be surviving the fall.

He quickly shrank down to a black speck wreathed in flame, but he fell out of sight behind a giant cloud.

"…"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Down below, the people in the cities rejoiced at the sudden rescue, completely unaware of the sacrifice that had been made.

All around the world, every single form of joy possible was expressed. Partying, hugging kissing, the list goes on.

But, not one of them knew of Shadow the Hedgehog…

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The smashers were back up at the ARK, which had returned to its normal orbit around the planet, completely harmless.

They sat around in a lab, waiting for Sonic to come back in. He had left them for a few minutes, for a bit of quiet time.

He didn't tell anyone, of course, but he had actually flown around space again, looking for his friend.

There was a whoosh, and everybody turned back to the elevator, where Sonic stepped out. His head was lowered, and he looked to the side as the doors opened. He had never seemed so still, so motionless before.

He walked into the room, heavy footed, right up to Rouge.

"…Did you find him?" She asked quietly.

Still looking down and away, Sonic shook his head. He lightly and gently grasped Rouge's hand, and turned it over and placed one of Shadow's golden rune bracelets.

Rouge didn't even bother wiping away the tear in her eye. It fell and splashed on her hand.

"…The world is saved, and the monster vanquished." Eggman said.

There was suddenly laughter. Sonic cracked a tinny smile, and turned around.

"That, coming from you, Doc? That scares me more than ANY monster will!"

"Must you always mock me!?!?" Eggman sighed.

"I'll cut you a break." Sonic said. "Just do everybody a favor, and stay outta trouble."

"…I'm going home." Eggman said. "I'll have a nice little party, and do…something."

He walked out of the room, and the gloomy atmosphere slowly returned.

"Let's go home." Knuckles said. "We need to take a break after all that fighting."

"Yeah, I agree." Matt said. "It's been nothing but fighting for days on end for us." He said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at his comrades.

"Aye. I'll see you on the rocket, then." Sonic said.

Rouge walked out, followed by the smashers.

"Poy Yop?" Kirby asked.

"No, still no food!" Luigi said.

"PoyDANGIT!" Kirby whined.

The noises faded away as they went to the harbor, but Shadow walked in the opposite direction, back up to the window.

He looked out at the giant planet below, and after a while, sighed.

"…Sayoonara, Shadow, The Hedgehog…" Sonic whispered. He looked for another moment, then turned and walked to the laboratory's exit and headed towards the docking bay where the ride home waited him.

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

**Ok, so…How did I do?**

**HUH? There have been, like, almost ZILCH reviews lately. Is ANYBODY reading?**

**I hope I'm doing a good job, and I REALLY hope I didn't bore anybody to death with this arc. I'll get on with the next chapter as soon as I can come up with the next part.**

**I dunno if I told ya all this, yet, but I pretty much do my stories as I go. Yeah, I come up with a vague outline for the plot, then I fill it in as I go.**

**SO, give me a day or two to get my creative juices working, and maybe I'll have another, ORIGINAL, arc up soon.**

**We'll just have to see how it turns out, eh?**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**(don't think I DON'T appreciate the reviews I get! I really am happy I'm getting them, I just want to be re-assured lots of people are reading, dat's all.)**


	26. Ambition

**YES! I know I shoulda said something about it, but yes, I DID see the news about SSBB!**

**YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! HA HA!**

**SONIC MADE IT! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!**

**Ok, I got it outta my system. I saw the clip, and he was so awesome!**

**Still, back to the story. I realize I rushed the last arc a little bit too much, but that was mainly because I got the feeling everybody was bored to tears, and my motivation was starting to slip…**

**When THAT happens, I guess I start to crap up. And, I'm sorry.**

**Despite what I said last chapter at the end, I DO know what I'm doing, enough to keep interesting twists coming, and in case I need to rethink my plot some. That way, most of the time, everything that comes out here on Fanfiction is what I want to be there.**

**And that is why I want to have this behind the scenes chapter. It's overdue, anyways!**

**Don't expect too many of THESE chapters, though. I didn't have many in Supremacy, and there won't be many in this story, either.**

**Kick back and relax, and enjoy the show.**

**(I dunno whether the title of this chapter is applicable or not. It just sounded good. You decide!)  
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"…Run that report by me again, captain." The GUN commander said, impatiently strumming his fingers on the arm of his office chair.

"Err…Right." The Colonel said. He did as he was told, because he didn't want to end up like those other captains…THEY disappeared.

He didn't want to die.

"Well, it appears Dr. Ivo Robotnik located the Eclipse Cannon on the space colony ARK, and blew half of the moon away.

"I could tell as much."

The colonel started sweating. The commander was unpredictable. He did all he could do at the moment: Continue the report.

"It seems the smashers that invaded Area 51 also found a way up to the colony, where they deactivated the cannon and saved the world-"

"What about the others?" The commander asked, bored.

"We can't find many of them. They seem to have vanished like smoke. However, we've traced a few of them to Castle Toadstool."

"Leave them be. I'm not interested in them. Obviously, they're scared crapless, and aren't even capable of stepping outside their front door. I'm more worried about the excavation sites.

"Uh…What?"

"The excavation sites."

"Oh! Yes…" The colonel said, nervously.

"I trust things are going well?"

"Yes…we've delved deep, but we're having trouble with some of the denizens of the area."

"Hmm…No matter. What's a bit of complaining? Arm the troops. Shoot some if you have to. Don't let it slow the project down."

"Alright. I'll let them know as soon as possible."

"And…How's the traitor doing?"

"Samus Aran? I wasn't aware of any plans concerning her."

"She is confused, no doubt. The Federation director offered her amnesty, if she would capture and turn in her fellows."

"Oh…Do you think she'll do it?"

"You never know." The commander said, smiling darkly.

"…"

"She's cornered. AND, She's a bounty hunter. She chooses who she's obligated to."

"If that's true-"

"Anyways, leave those pitiful losers alone. Focus on the excavation…and help our confused friend if she need it."

"Y-Yes sir!"

"You're excused, Colonel."

The colonel nodded respectfully, and hastened his departure. He literally ran from the room, sobbing with the joy of life.

The commander watched his progress through the glass windows around his door, then turned his chair towards the wall opposite the door.

There was a strange sound as the flesh on his forehead glowed. A red line spread across his head, then it opened up, revealing the golden eye stone embedded in his skull.

The skin on his forehead curled like an eyelid, and the eye blinked as the commander's eyes seemed to glaze over.

The eye spoke to him inside his mind, but whatever was said was only known between the two of them.

Down the hall, a few random soldiers and workers carrying papers, and doing other business froze in their tracks as mad, chilling laughter erupted from the commander's office.

When it stopped, the people stood there for a few more seconds before their wits returned, then they fled the hall, away from the madman sitting in the commander's office.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ok, short chapter, but it revealed more stuff, I guess.**

**I promise I'll take the time I need to make a good chapter! I just hope this one was good enough, for the moment.**

**Ok, I'll contemplate the next arc, and I sure hope it turns out good!**

**Thank you all for the reviews! I'm glad all of you enjoyed the last chapter (I guess.)**

**See ya next time, and take care! Thanks again!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	27. What Now?

**Sorry, everybody, about Shadow…But really, consider the Sonic games AFTERWARDS. Did Shadow really die?**

**That, and Dun dun DUN! More will be revealed later!**

**Ok, I'm a little ticked about them delaying SSBB, but I just sure as heck hope they do an UBER good job with it. It sure looks good so far…**

**Alright, SO…What's the NEXT arc gonna be like? I've got an idea how the next two arcs will play out, thankfully.**

**Ready? YOU BETTA BE!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Mario was standing in the courtyard of Toadstool castle, making a few last minute preparation. He tugged on the wrists of his white gloves until they were nice and tight, and was in the middle of straightening his cap when Peach stepped out of the door behind him.

"Don't do it."

"A-what?" Mario asked.

"Don't leave." Peach pleaded. "It's not safe outside!"

"I'm-a only gonna take-a little walk!" Mario protested. "I can take-a care of myself-a!"

"Mario, we've seen enemy troops walking past this very castle, carrying all sorts of equipment! They looked dangerous!"

"What-a do you-a take me-a for?" Mario asked. "I won't-a get caught."

"…Fine. Please, Mario! I beg you, be careful. Don't do anything careless."

"Careful is-a my middle name-a!" Mario assured her.

"Ok…Be back soon, Ok?" Peach asked.

"Of course-a."

Peach walked over to him, and gave him a quick peck on his cheek, which made Mario blush as red as his cap.

"Peachy, you make-a me all mushy!" Mario stuttered, looking away shyly.

"Sorry, I'll try not to distract you." Peach said.

Mario smiled widely, then turned and walked down the length of the lowered drawbridge, and out into the surrounding woods.

Whatever was going on, Peach secretly hoped Mario found out.

Something big was definitely going on. She was sure of it.

She watched Mario disappear into the woods a few moments later, then reluctantly signaled to the toad manning the gates. He nodded and started turning the crank, which brought the drawbridge up.

"Mario, it's all up to you." Peach said to herself.

Little did she know, that was the last of Mario she was going to see for a long time…

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

There was a humming sound over a little town as the gummi ship, and it hovered about like a giant bee before lowering itself to the ground.

It landed on the lawn of a small house, with cream colored exterior walls, and a red roof. There was a touch of Dutch style to the house, with a little garden and such stuff. It was very quaint, and cozy.

The door on the gummi ship hissed open, and Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails hopped out and onto the lawn. Matt and Yoshi stepped out onto the ramp, but didn't jump off.

"Hey, Sonic." Matt said. "You sure you don't want to hang out?"

"Yeah, sorry about that." Sonic said. "I'm feeling outta sorts…I need some time to myself, if you know what I mean."

"I'll cheer you up, Sonic!" Amy said.

"That kinda means you too…" Sonic said, grimacing at his own meanness.

"Oh…"

"I wish you the best of luck, then." Matt said. "All of you."

"Thanks." Sonic said.

"Keep in touch with us, all right?" Yoshi said. He was sorry to leave Sonic, He and Sonic had gotten to be pretty good pals.

"Yeah, no problem!" Tails said.

"You'll be needing this, then." Matt said. He tossed Sonic a familiar red phone.

The hedgehog turned it around in his hands, and looked at it. There was nothing special about it, except it had a black smash emblem stamped on the back.

"Heh, thanks!" Sonic said. "I'll be sure to let you know when something's up."

"That'd be awesome." Matt said sincerely.

"Don't be afraid to just chat, either!" Yoshi said.

"I'll make sure not to be a stranger, then." Sonic said as he pocketed the phone. "…Where you gonna go next?"

"…Good question." Matt said, scratching his head. "Me and the rest of the team will have to talk about it."

"That is always a good thing to do."

"Well, we better be going, then." Matt said. "It was great seeing you again, Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles!"

"Don't think I'm gonna let you off the hook yet!" Knuckles said.

"I'll make cookies!" Amy said.

"Make sure they're gonna be here to enjoy them first, Amy." Tails said.

"I will! I wouldn't let the cookies go to waste." Amy reassured him.

"Ok! Goodbye for now!" Yoshi said.

"Bye!" Matt said. He was sweating nervously. Obviously he still feared Knuckle's retribution.

He wasted no time in closing the hatch and giving the signal to Fox for take off. Fox obliged, and soon they were flying off into the sky.

Everybody watched its progress through the sky until it was swallowed by a cloud, then Sonic made a movement to leave.

"Ohh, SONIIIIIC!"

Sonic looked back once, just once, then fled as Amy chased him with her hammer out.

"Get back here so I can beat some sense into you! SONIC!!!!" Amy squealed.

Soon they were out of sight, and the fox and echidna just waved to each other, and split up.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Mario quickly hid himself behind a patch of tall grass as a few soldiers passed by, holding shovels and other digging utensils.

_What the crap._ Mario asked himself as he watched them pass by. He waited a few more moments after they were out of sight, then he hurried over to the other side of the pathway and ducked under the ridge there. The ground he was walking on was a few feet lower than the walkway above, and he was safely out of sight. He caught up as quietly as he could, and vaguely noticed they were headed towards the swamp in the woods…

_Mush Mush Marsh. What are they-a digging up there?_ Mario asked himself.

"Hey." One of the soldiers said, presumably to his companion.

"What?"

"Did you hear anything about what we're supposed to be digging up?"

"No, not really." The other soldier said. "I really don't care either. I hate swamps."

"I heard there's some ancient artifact buried in the mud." The talky soldier said. "I dunno what it is, though."

"Probably some useless piece of trash the commander wants to stick on his desk." The older soldier snorted. "There's rumors lately the commander's gone mad. Gone mad as a stinking bat, he has."

"He's probably under a lot of stress or something."

"Are you truly that dim-witted?" the other soldier asked, not too kindly.

"Hey! I'm just a soldier, like you are."

"Only I'm smarter than you."

"HEY!"

"Look, dolt. Just focus on the job, so we can get out of this forsaken swamp. The mosquitoes are killing me."

"What about the-"

"Those things?" The older soldier said, with a hint of disgust in his voice. "All they do is watch, and watch. Every once in a while they yell "DAH!" and throw rocks, but that's it."

"I think they look cute."

"That…is because you're weird like that."

They stopped talking, both of them continued walking, with the younger one in a huffy silence and the older soldier oblivious to his younger partner.

_What in the stars goes "DAH!" ?_ Mario wondered. He decided he had better keep on his toes. There was lots to find out, and little time.

He continued following the soldiers, until he noticed the smoke from what seemed to be bonfires. Mario veered left into the thickets, and vanished from all sight.

It was getting dark, and Mario decided he'd camp out in the woods for the night. He had to find out what was going on with the digging and the bonfires.

He curled up on the ground and gathered up a small pile of floppy leaves, and soon dropped off to sleep.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Wowsers, that's incredible!" Crazy Hand exclaimed. "You guys are awesome, stopping a crazy doctor from destroying the world, and taking out a bad experiment!"

Link sighed. Crazy had been going on about their recent adventure since they first told him. Still, it was nice to get some praise every once in a while.

"We still haven't decided where to go next, yet." Ness said.

"I was going to get to that." Matt said. "…Eventually." At this, he glared at Crazy, who prattled on and on…

"You should have said something, then." Fox laughed. "Look what I discovered." He pressed a button, and Crazy was instantly muted. He continued making gestures: he seemed unaware of what just happened.

"To put it simply: Where to now?" Matt asked.

"We ought to continue checking on other smashers, to make sure they're doing alright." Link said.

"What about the people we saw in the rift?" Paul asked. "We know where a few of them are, why not check at one of those places?"

"That's what I was thinking." Fox said as he drove the ship.

"Where are we closest to?" Luigi asked. "I wouldn't mind seeing if the Mushroom Kingdom is doing ok."

"I wanna see if Mario's ok!" Yoshi said, suddenly concerned. "Ya can't help feeling worried for somebody you helped out when they were a baby!"

"Pichu!"

"Poyo!" Kirby said, rubbing his stomach and licking his lips.

"…Alright, then." Matt said. "Who's fore going to the Mushroom Kingdom?"

Everybody raised their hands.

"No second opinions?" Matt asked, just to make sure. Nobody said anything, so he declared the results. "Then, we're off to the Mushroom Kingdom!"

Fox turned his swivel chair back to the controls, and un-muted Crazy.

"Crazy! We need coordinates for the Mushroom Kingdom." Fox said. "We're going to check up with Mario and the others."

"Oh, why didn't you say so?" Crazy said. "Let's go, then! Hold on tight! HERE WE GO!"

Crazy took control of the ship again, and shot so fast everybody was thrown into their seats, squished against the cushion on the chairs.

The gummi ship zoomed off in a north easterly direction, punching holes in the lazy white clouds as it passed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Mario was sleeping lightly, when he heard a crack. He quickly sat up and looked around, before he noticed it was late night.

It took a short amount of time to get his eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness, as the moon was shining brightly. He rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes and looked around, but he didn't see anything.

_Looks like I slept later than I wanted to. Peachy is gonna kill me._

He stood up and stretched to get rid of the slight cramping, when he heard another crack. He instantly froze, and looked around moving only his eyes, but as far as he could tell, nobody was watching him.

"Dah!"

THWACK!

"DAH!"

"Dah Dah!"

"DAH!"

_Crap._ Mario cursed inwardly. Whatever he was hearing, it had to be those things the soldiers were talking about.

But…what WERE they?

He got his question answered when a short, stubby figure walked out of the shade to his left. Mario cautiously turned and faced the mysterious figure, but all he saw was a white bunny with a big head, goofy eyes, and Spongebob teeth.

Mario almost laughed his head off. He was worried about a bunny! What could a bunny do to him?

"Hey-a there, little fella!" Mario said, quietly, but loud enough so the bunny could hear him.

"DAH!"

He was instantly surrounded.

"Dah!" The bunny shouted, pointing at him.

_Uh oh…_

"Dah, DAH!"

"Huh?"

The bunny repeated his motion, pointed at the ground in front of him, and yelled, "DAH!"

Mario complied, and stepped on the ground in front of the bunny.

_Dang, I wish-a I had brought my wing cap and-a my jet boots._ Mario thought.

The bunny looked him up and down, then after a while, poked Mario in the belly.

"…Dah." The bunny mumbled, in a satisfied tone. He walked around Mario, then poked him in the side. Mario flinched, but held still. The bunny mumbled some more, then walked to Mario's other side and poked him again. Mario let out a chuckle, because the last poke tickled.

The bunny smiled, and let out a high pitched chuckle as well, and continued whatever he was doing. After a while, the bunny turned his back to Mario, and threw his hands into the air. "DAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

"DAAAAAAAAHHH!!" The bunnies repeated.

Mario stood still, wondering what the heck was going on, when the bunny walked back to him, and looked up into his face.

He bunny put his hand forwards, and did a thumb's down.

Mario didn't have any time to ponder what had just happened, because a split second later, there was a thwack and stars exploded inside of Mario's head, and everything went black.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**I've been planning this chapter inside my head for a long time. LONG TIME.**

**Most of it I just did in my head, but like I've said, I almost always have a vague idea of what I want before I put it out.**

**I'll leave you now with this most delicious cliff hanger, and leave you to ponder what's going to happen. Hoping to see you all again soon! Ta ta!**

**AND! I can't forget! Thank you all for the reviews! They fuel my desire to write, and inspire me. I was never mad about not getting many reviews, I was just wondering if very many people were reading of not. Anyways, I'll see you all soon!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	28. Mamma mia! Trouble in Mushroom Kingdom

**Yeah, of course the freaky bunnies are rabbids. I SO wanted to get to this point for awhile! No, they are not going to torture Mario with stupid minigames, but they will do something, I guarantee you.**

**To put it simply: yes, they are there to cause trouble. WHAT kind of trouble, YOU find out…and that can be done only by reading.**

**I really appreciate the reviews, everybody! Good to hear from all of you again, and so many times in a small period of time, too. All I can say, is, shweet.**

**This is now officially the beginning of the Mushroom Kingdom arc, which will hopefully be the only one. I really need some arc variety in this story, to make up for my first story. I mean, come ON! I went to Hyrule THREE times out of nine arcs!**

**That, my friends, is UNACCEPTABLE in my book. TABOO!**

**And so, my early new year's resolution is to not have anything to do with a world again in the story unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary!**

**If any of you have any qualms, problems with my new policy, I'm completely open to opinions. I'm just trying to keep everything fresh and new, if you get what I mean.**

**And before I go nuts and type 12 pages of notes instead of a good chapter, let's start the actual chappy. Again, thanks!**

**I just wanted to say, yes, it is unfortunate that SSBB has been delayed, but DANG! Some people sure know how to over-react. My advice when something annoying happens: think it through, and find all the good stuff that will happen because of it, and FOCUS on the good stuff! If any of you have practiced at least a tiny bit of patience (I have), just try to ignore the game, get on with life. **

**It's not like you LIVE inside the game, right? Still, that'd be cool. Anyways, just chill out! Relax, and enjoy some other stuff for awhile.**

**Let's-a go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

A day later…

-On board the gummi ship-

"We're finally nearing the Mushroom Kingdom!" Crazy said. "If I 'member correctly, this was to be your stop, right?"

"Yeah, thanks for the help, Crazy." Fox said. "You've been a great help, surprisingly."

"What's dat supposed to mean?" Crazy asked.

"Nothing." Fox said, looking out the window. "Ok, everybody! I'm preparing the landing gear!"

Above the castle's lawns, the Gummi ship lowered onto the springy grass, and extended the landing legs. It touched the ground and spread its weight out on the four landing legs, then the hatch hissed open and everybody stepped out.

The area around Peach's Castle looked really nice. The castle had a deep moat around it, almost like a pool, the water was so clear and blue. To the left, on a cliff way above the castle there was a waterfall that poured into the moat. Around the clearing at the front of the castle were a few scattered, random trees, but around the clearing and the rest of the castle was super thick forest, which was nearly impossible to see through.

The drawbridge was up at the moment, and the clearing was unnaturally quiet.

"…Something's up." Link said.

"Of COURSE!" Ness said. "Remember the image we saw?"

"What image?" Yoshi asked curiously.

"It's a long story." Luigi said. "We'll tell you sometime soon."

"Ok!" Yoshi said.

"…The shield's up." Paul finally said.

"Huh?" Fox asked.

"Look, up in the air. You can slightly see the silhouette. And I can sense it too."

"Yeah, I see what you mean. That'd explain the star glowing in the tower." Fox said.

"What? How would you-"

"Long story, Yoshi. Another time." Luigi sighed.

"Fine…"

"Let's check in, then, shall we?" Matt said.

"POYO!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I say! It would appear we have visitors!" Toadsworth said in his British accent.

"Hic…I don't care…" Peach said. Her eyes were red, and she sounded very tired and weary. She had a wet handkerchief in her hands.

"Lady Toadstool, I see a Gummi ship, and our visitors appear to be some of the other smashers you told me about! And look! I see Fox!"

"Fox?" Peach asked. She reflected back on the time when he helped her protect the castle against Zephiel and Medeus, a few months ago.

"Yes, Fox." Toadsworth said. "And a tall guy with a metal arm, another guy that has a shining sword, A guy in a green tunic with a sword and shield, a child with a red baseball cap, a yellow mouse, a pink fellow, and I say! Masters Luigi and Yoshi are with them, too!"

"Fox, Matt, Paul, Link, Ness, Pichu, Kirby, Luigi, and Yoshi!?!?" Peach asked in shock. "I don't know what to do!"

"I have an idea." Toadsworth said.

"What?" Peach asked.

"Let the drawbridge down, and ask them what, wot!" Toadsworth chortled.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A little bit later…

-Inside the castle lobby-

The smashers all stood in the lobby of the castle, having just walked there.

Luigi noticed Peach's swollen eyes, even though she managed to hide them well.

"Peach, what's wrong?" Luigi asked, concerned. Peach only cried if something serious happened, and serious stuff was not welcome, no sir.

"It's Mario." peach finally said, breaking down and crying.

"Whoa! Cool it, Peach!" Fox yelped in surprise, before helping walking over to her and holding her steady. "Wasn't Mario supposed to be here?"

"He…H-he went out yesterday, to find out what the soldiers were d-doing!" Peach sobbed.

"Soldiers!?!?!" The smashers exclaimed. This was big.

"What soldiers?" Link asked.

"They were those dratted GUN soldiers!" Peach said. "They've been taking digging equipment into the woods. They've been camped there for a w-week!"

"…What the heck could they be digging up?" Paul wondered aloud. "And you say Mario left yesterday to find out what they're doing, and he hasn't come back yet?"

"Y-Yes…"

"We'll go find him." Luigi said. "Besides, he's my brother! Of COURSE I'm worried about him! I'd be heartless not to worry about him."

"Ugh, don't say 'Heartless' to me…" Paul groaned.

"What?" Luigi asked. "It's just a saying…"

"AND a type of monster." Ness said. "One we've been fortunate enough to not encounter yet."

"Oh." Luigi said. "…Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Paul said. "Just bad memories, is all."

"We'll find Mario for you!" Link said, to comfort Peach.

"Yeah, I gotta know Mario's ok." Yoshi said. "I'm getting all worried about him, too."

"Which way did the troops and Mario head?" Matt asked.

"West, and a little bit south." Peach said, struggling to stem her tears.

"Wait a sec." Luigi said. "They went to Mush Mush Marsh?"

"I-I think so…"

"We better hurry up, then." Luigi said, slightly disturbed.

"What's up?" Ness asked.

"That marsh is really dangerous." Luigi said. "Do you know how easy it is to step into the mud and get stuck?"

"Stuck?"

"Mud can be like quicksand." Paul explained. "Although, personally, I think it's worse than quicksand."

"What if he sank in the mud?" Link asked.

"Peach." Luigi asked, sharply. "Did Mario bring his jet boots or his wing cap?"

"No, he didn't think he'd need them." Peach said, quietly.

"Oh, no…" Luigi sighed. "I sure hope Mario had enough sense to be careful."

"Mario's always careful." A gruff voice growled from up at the top of the staircase.

"Bowser!" Everybody shouted, looking up at him in surprise.

"Heh heh…Didn't exactly expect to see you here." Luigi tittered nervously.

"What do you take me for?" Bowser growled lowly. "I'm done kidnapping Peach. I don't care for your needless suspicion, ya may as well put aside because I'm coming with!" He said, and crossed his arms.

"…"

"…Welcome to the team, then!" Link said, shrugging and smiling.

"Here: I went ahead and grabbed Mario's stuff. I was about to go and find him, and give him his stuff back if I found him, but then you came here…and Luigi may as well use it."

Bowser pulled a brown pair of boots with holes in the bottom and wings on the heels, and a red cap with wings on it.

"I already got my cap." Luigi said. "…But it couldn't hurt to use the boots." He pocketed the cap, and popped Mario's boots on. They fit him decently, although they were a tad too short. He could cope with it.

"Thanks, Bowser." Luigi said.

"No prob…Just keep an eye on me, k? That mud is sticky, for sure!"

"POYo." Kirby said.

"Well, let's go." Fox said.

"We'll bring him back, I promise!" Luigi said. "See you, peach, and take care!"

"Ok, I'll be waiting…" Peach said.

The smashers walked out of the lobby, and soon they were out on the castle lawns.

Peach watched them from a window on the second floor, and watched as they disappeared into the woods, with Bowser, Luigi, and Yoshi leading the way.

"…Mario…Please be safe…"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

"Sir!" A soldier said. He was monitoring a series of cameras and screens, when one of the cameras spotted the smashers in the woods, setting off an alarm.

"What is it, soldier?" a higher ranking officer asked.

"Um, one of the cameras found the smashers in the woods. Do you think they're finally going to do something?"

"Hard to say." The officer said. "I'll phone headquarters and get orders."

"Sir!"

The officer left the soldier to continue his work, and went to make the call.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"…So, that's where some of them are." Samus remarked.

She was inside her ship, listening to soldiers talk inside the base she hacked into. Right now, she was watching the smasher's progress through the woods.

"…Mario, you're mine."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**WELL! Tell me what you think.**

**Just a short, arc beginning chapter. I'll try to make 'em nice and long until the end of** **the arc!**

**I sure hope I did good…Only one way to find out.**

**I got other stuff to do. It's still the weekend, and I still have a chance to do something. I've been lazing about, the whole time.**

**I don't enjoy goofing off that much.**

**ANYWAYS! I'll see you all next time! I'm finally having tons of fun! AND that is very good, VERY bueno! (Spanish for 'good'. I like how it sounds.)**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	29. Mush Mush Marsh

**Ok, everybody…I'm short on words today, but I hope this chapter turns out as good as it can possibly get!**

**There's a bunch of stuff going on, but I'm sure all of you can keep up with it, no prob.**

**Now, my thanks to all who have reviewed! I really appreciate them!**

**Let's-a go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Alright, keep your eyes open for mud holes." Bowser warned. "This place is downright dangerous. It's a wonder Peach hasn't done anything with it yet."

"She keeps saying it's good for defense purposes." Luigi said.

"She says that all the time." Yoshi grinned back at the other smashers.

"Peach is probably too lazy to do anything about it, or maybe she's busy, I don't know." Bowser said. "Oh, yeah. Before I forget, there's leeches here too."

"PICHU!?!?!?!?!??!" Pichu screamed, then stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Yeah, disgusting." Paul said, making a face.

"I don't believe I've had problems with leeches before." Link said.

"That's kinda surprising." Fox said. "I thought this was a saltwater marsh!"

"Nope." Bowser said, knocking a small tree out of the way with a brutal punch. "True, we are rather close to the ocean, but not close enough to scare the leeches away."

"That sucks." Ness said. "Heh heh, 'sucks', get it?"

"Why…here's a little leech right now." Matt said. He stuck his metal arm in the mud and grabbed a thick, slimy slug, and shoved it in Ness' face.

"YEAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!" Ness screamed. He leapt into the air and grabbed a branch. "I'll follow you guys…No WAY am I touching the ground again until we're outta here!"

"Poyo!" Kirby agreed. He floated up like a pink balloon, then let his breath escape with a whoosh and landed next to Ness with a poink noise.

"Just be careful up there." Luigi said. "Leeches have been known to hang in trees, too."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Ness and Kirby leapt out of the tree and landed on Bowser's back, knocking him flat in the ankle deep mud.

"Can we ride on your back?" Ness asked sheepishly.

"….Why me?" Bowser moaned.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few minutes later, Bowser stuck his arms out to the sides, and blocked everybody's way.

"We need to stop for a second." Bowser said.

"How come?" Matt asked. "I don't see anything-"

Bowser shushed him, and pointed up in a tree.

"Huh? I don't-" Matt started saying, but Fox shushed him again.

"Look." Fox said, directing his eyes. By now, everybody was looking at the camera hidden in the tree.

"Just noticed it." Bowser said. "If there's a camera in here this deep, we might have already triggered the alert. We'll have to be extra careful, by while we're here…"

"It'd be my pleasure." Fox said.

BLAM!

The camera crashed to the ground, cut clean off its robotic arm. Fox blew on the end of his blaster, then spun it around on his finger and popped it back in its holder.

"Nice shot." Bowser whistled.

"Thanks." Fox said.

"Everybody, keep an eye out for more security stuff." Link said. "We'll have to be careful now."

"Poyo."

"I doubt they'd feed you if we get caught…" Paul said skeptically.

"POYO!" Kirby whined. He crossed his arms, and made an unhappy face.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Officer!" A soldier cried.

"Yes, soldier?"

"We lost the signal from camera alpha in quadrant four." the soldier informed.

"Did you see the cause?"

"No, sir. One moment, it was fine, then it went black."

"…Alright, I'm sending an inspection squad out to find the cause." The officer said. "Good work, soldier."

"Sir!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The smashers were walking through the woods, when they finally came across a path. It was the type of path made by jeeps and trucks.

"…The tracks are sort of new." Bowser said. "They have to be at most a week old."

"What are these, then?" Matt asked. He was pointing at small foot prints the size of a silver dollar.

"I don't remember seeing those before." Bowser said, surprised.

"Let me see them." Yoshi said. Everybody stepped aside as he walked up, then he put his big nose down to the ground, and took a hearty sniff. He sniffed it a few more times, then pulled his nose back, and made an unhappy snorting noise.

"What?" Fox asked.

"I think they're bunny prints, but they're really smelly. They're also weird shaped." Yoshi gagged.

"The mud around here can smell like crap sometimes, if that's what you think it smells like." Bowser said.

"How do you know so much about this marsh?" Matt asked.

"Any Ex-conqueror could tell you what contributed to failure." Bowser sighed.

"You had lots of trouble with this marsh, didn't you" Link asked.

"I'll never forget it." Bowser said.

"Pi." Pichu said suddenly, her ears stiffening.

"Poyo." Kirby said.

"What is it, Pichu?" Ness wondered.

"Pi!"

"She says she hears a truck." Luigi said.

"And I see it, too!" Bowser said. "Get off the road!" He threw anybody near him into the woods off the side of the road, then ran off after them and everybody else followed.

Just in time.

A truck rumbled on down the road, and a few bored soldiers were singing inside the truck. The back was loaded with jackhammers, shovels, a few cases of dynamite, and a few small drills. The rest of the back of the truck was covered with a camouflaged tarp.

"…Hey, look." Luigi said.

He pointed at the ground, where there were more footprints.

"They went the direction we just came from." Yoshi said. "…Are those drag marks?"

"Hey, that looks like Mario's b-"

Everybody went silent, and stared at the small clearing. In the middle, there were two slight imprints of Mario's body in the soil. One looked like he was on his side, the other was of him flat on his back. Near where his head left a dent, was a mark.

"Is that…" Ness started saying.

"Blood?" Bowser wondered.

Luigi looked at the dent on the ground, and the dark brown dirt. In an instant, Luigi swayed, and hit the ground with a thud. Everybody looked at him, before they noticed he was unconscious.

"Ok, we'll rest here for a bit." Bowser suddenly decided. "We may as well take a break."

"What do we do after we rest?" Fox said. "We could cause some trouble at the camp, or try to locate Mario first."

"Mario's more important. I'd say we go after him first." Paul said. "That way, we can find out if GUN captured him after all."

"I agree." Fox said. "I think Mario's life is more important."

"Alright, it's decided." Link said. "We'll get Mario first, then have our fun."

Everybody shared their agreement, then lay down to take a quick nap. Link and Bowser stayed up to watch.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When it was about an hour later, Luigi finally woke up.

"Ugh…what happened?" Luigi asked. "All I remember is seeing Mario's blood, then everything went black."

"You fainted." Bowser said. He and Link were playing tic-tack-toe, and the hylian was losing badly. He was nearly oblivious, though, and happily scratched x's into the dirt, which Bowser countered with o's.

"I bet that enhanced my image." Luigi grimaced. "D'you think Mario will be ok?"

"I think he was knocked out." Bowser said. "Which would explain the dragging. I don't think he was killed, just knocked out a little brutally."

"Thank goodness!"

"Still, that doesn't mean he's safe." Link said. "Think it's time to go?"

"Yeah, I'd say so." Bowser said. He stuck two of his fingers in his mouth, and whistled.

Everybody shot up, wakened by the sharp whistle.

"Pi…" Pichu whined, massaging her ears.

"Sorry." Bowser said. "I didn't mean to hurt your ears."

"…Yawn…Is it time to continue looking for Mario?" Paul asked sleepily.

"Yeah." Link said. "Wakey wakey, sleepy heads!"

"I'm hungry." Yoshi said.

"POYO!"

"Now that I think about it, we have the two most renowned gluttons in the universe with us. Of COURSE they're gonna be hungry!" Matt said.

"Tell ya what." Luigi said. "If we find any food at the base when we go, you two can have it."

"GOYO!?!?!?"

"Really!?!?!?"

"We don't have any need for it." Bowser said. "It's time to go now."

With that, he gave a great heave and pushed himself up, and walked across the road along the tracks with everybody else following like before.

They crossed the road without any trucks appearing, and stepped off on the other side of the road into the woods. They were wilder than the woods they had walked through so far, so the going was hard.

Bowser flexed his special gloves that E. Gadd and Tails made for him a few months ago, and thin, silvery claw shot out.

"I'm glad these babies are made from adamantium." Bowser said. "I've never had to sharpen them even once since I got them."

He slashed away at the low hanging branches and the nettles and tall grass, and his blades were so sharp it was just like swinging through air for one so strong. Their pace picked up for a while, but they started to slow when the ground got gooey.

"Anybody for climbing in the trees?" Yoshi asked. "The bunnies went up."

"Naw, we can keep-"

"Bowser! Watch out!" Ness yelled.

Bowser took one more step, and promptly sank into the mud.

"Oh, CRUD!" Bowser roared.

"Poyo poyo poyo poyo poyo…" Kirby moaned, running in circles and holding his head with his stubby arms.

"Hold still, while I find something!" Fox said, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

"Link, lend Luigi your Clawshot." Matt said.

"Ok…Why?" Link asked curiously as he tossed the gadget to Luigi.

"Bowser, grab the Claw, and fly as fast as you can, Luigi." Matt instructed. "Everybody else, grab Bowser!"

"WHAT!?!? You're going to make me sink!" Bowser protested.

Luigi passed Bowser the chain, and moments before he took off, everybody else jumped on Bowser who quickly sank into the mud.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Luigi's feet nearly exploded with thrusting power, and he shot forwards faster than a nuclear warhead. Bowser's body came out of the mud with a slurp, and he skied on the thick water with everybody else on his shoulders and back.

"Now I see what you're getting at." Bowser said. He couldn't help but crack a grin.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" Link yelled.

"The trees are starting to thin out." Paul observed.

They quickly shot out of the submerged woods, and out into open water. It was a lake, and the swamp trees were at the lake's shallow shores. They hurtled across the water while getting washed by the cold spray. Luigi zipped about aimlessly for a little bit, then flew straight up and weakened the jets so they just hovered there.

"PiCHU!" Pichu squealed.

"Huh?" Everybody asked.

"Pi!" She pointed at a speck in the sky, which moved slightly. It was still very far away.

"Spaceship?" Ness asked. The little mouse pokemon nodded her head. Everybody looked back at the speck as it started growing in size. It was orange, and looked faintly familiar…

There was a roar as it shot overhead about a few hundred feet, and it disappeared over the edge of the forest. Luigi was still skimming the water, but he started accelerating towards the ship.

"I'll be danged." Fox said. "That was Samus' ship! What's she doing here?"

"I want to find out." Luigi said. "But Mario's our priority. Yoshi, can you still smell him?"

"Yeah." Yoshi said. "Luckily, he's in the same direction Samus is going!"

"Maybe we can finally kill two birds with one stone!" Link said.

They skied across the lake, and when they reached the other side, they kept going until they could step on ground that would hold them up. Next, Yoshi picked up the pungent smell of the bunnies and Mario, and followed it.

It wasn't until an hour or two later that they found anything.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Uh oh…" Yoshi said, at length.

"What?" Bowser asked.

"I lost Mario's scent!"

"What! How?" Bowser asked, surprised.

"I don't know." Yoshi said, sounding perplexed. "I had him, then somehow his scent just vanished…"

"Can you keep following the bunnies, then?" Link asked.

"Yeah, sure, I guess." Yoshi said. He followed the scent trail, which plowed on through the thick untamed woods. Everybody had to walk stooped over to avoid taking their head off on branches. Bowser walked behind Yoshi, slashing at the undergrowth and clearing a wide enough path for everyone else. They continued doing this for a few minutes, when Yoshi stiffened, and smelled the ground carefully. He stopped, and sniffed it again, as if just to make sure.

"What is it now?" Fox asked.

"Um…I THINK I smell Mario…but…"

"But what?"

"He smells weird." Yoshi said. He stared off to the side for a little bit, as if thinking, then shrugged it off and continued. The woods were quiet now, and it was already getting pretty dark.

After awhile, they heard chanting, very faint on the late air.

"Follow it." Bowser said. This time, Pichu sat on his shoulder, and everybody quietly made their way through the woods while Pichu guided them with her superior hearing. Bowser cut away silently at any obstructions, and before long they found a clearing.

In concentric circles, rows and rows of strange looking rabbits danced in a circle around a center stone that rose into the air like a castle's tower. They all chanted, saying 'Dah" in various pitches. It sounded sinister.

"I never thought I'd be scared of a rabbit." Bowser shuddered.

"What's with the music?" Ness asked.

"It sounds like Voodoo to me." Matt said.

"Voodoo!?!?"

"SHH!!!"

"Yeah, I'm curious as to why there are Rabbids in this swamp." He said, quietly.

"Rabbids?" Fox asked.

"Yes, evil freaky bunnies." Matt said. "That's all you need to know. It sucks that Mario got captured by them."

"Let me guess, they're doing something to him?" Paul said.

"Exactly, what though, we'll have to find out." Matt said. "We have to be careful."

"Heh, what could a Rabbid do to me?" Bowser snorted in annoyance.

"Lots of stuff you're better off not knowing." Matt grimaced.

"Ohh…Noooo…" Luigi moaned, frightened and scared for Mario and himself.

"We gotta be quick." Matt said. Just then, there was a loud chorus of "DAH!"

The moon was way above the stone tower already, and it shone down, casting sinister shadows where its pale light could not reach. A rabbid with a lazy eye stood on top of the tower. He seemed to be the leader.

"DAH!" He yelled.

"DAH!" the rest of the rabbids yelled.

"DAH dah dah DAH!'

"dah DAH DAH dah!"

"Bah DA DA DA DAAAAAAAH!!!"

"DAH DAH!"

They repeated the noises a few times, and then two bunnies armed with bows hustled a figure into view.

It was Mario.

It happened swiftly. The lead Rabbid pulled out a staff, and hit Mario with it. Mario sagged under the blow, and the staff, which was up against his chest, started glowing with a pale green glow. Mario yelled and kicked away from the staff, but the rabbids pushed him back up against it.

Mario's body started glowing like the staff, and then the moon seemed to give off a glow of energy as well. Sparks of energy flew off Mario's body, then he started shrinking, and turning rounder. His clothes still matched his body, and they shrank along with him, keeping their nice fit on him.

His boots came off with a pop. When he shrank to about the size of the rabbid holding the staff, he stopped shrinking. Two long, rounded strips of flesh shot up from his head, and in another flash, it was all over.

In his place was standing a rabbid, wearing Mario's clothing. His eyes stayed bright blue, and a moustache still hung from his upper lip. He looked like a Mario-rabbid.

"DAH!" The rabbids cheered.

"Mamma mia!" Mario said.

"…Dah!" The leader yelled.

Mario shrugged helplessly. "Mamma mia!"

"DAH DAH DAAAAAAH!"

"Mamma mia!"

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" The leader screamed. Something went wrong, but what, nobody could tell. The rabbid swung his staff, which turned out to actually be a plunger. He smashed Mario upside the head, and the poor plumber bunny skidded to the edge of the tower. The rabbid leader advance to knock him off to his death, but then Yoshi decided he couldn't take itr any longer.

"HY-YAAAAH!!!" Yoshi cried. He had been holding a fire egg ready, and at that moment, he let it loose.

It soared into the air in a magnificent arc, and zoomed right in at the leader rabbid.

"DAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!"

BAM!

The egg hit his face and exploded, making a sound like a huge balloon popping. He skidded backwards, singed black. He jumped up onto his feet and screamed in rage, and jabbed his plunger at the smashers, whose presence was now known.

"DA DA DAAAAAH!" He screamed.

"Let's go!" Paul yelled. He jumped right into the seething mass of freaky bunnies, and created a tornado. Everybody else jumped into the fray, and bunnies flew everywhere.

The heroes hit, not to kill, but to give the freaky bunnies something to remember. Bowser spun into battle inside his shell, sending bunnies flying into the air. Some of them were caught in the middle of the twister, which Paul was floating in the middle of. He guided the twister around, catching bunnies that flew around.

Pichu used her quick attack and jumped from Rabbid to rabbid, tackling them at high speed only to ram into another rabbid or two within the same second. Kirby inhaled the bunny Pichu just kicked into the air, and spit it out at the rabbid leader, who just got up. he got knocked off the tower, screaming like a girl while his eyes twitched wildly. His plunger flew through the air.

Kirby jumped towards the rabbid and inhaled the plunger to get the…

Plunger ability!?!?!?

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Rabbids screamed. Kirby threw plungers with deadly accuracy, and the rabbids hit had plungers sticking on their heads. They screamed in terror and ran about in a panic, which resulted in more panic.

"POYO!" Kirby yelled. He tossed another plunger and it hit the rabbid leader on the head and stuck like a suction cup. The rabbid screamed like a girl again, and tugged and tugged at the relentless plunger. It clung to his head like a stubborn leech. After awhile, he gave up and ran off into the forest, screaming.

Luigi and Fox teamed up, and linked arms like a chain link.

"Double Jet!" They cried. Luigi and Fox both used their jet boots and Fire Fox and the staff jump respectively, and shot around like a super powerful cruise missile. They barreled through the thickest swarms of rabbids, sending them flying everywhere as they hit them.

Then they plunged into another mob of bunnies and turned sideways, back to back. Luigi's head was against Fox's back, and Fox's head was against Luigi's back. They spun like a pinwheel, kicking off rabbids that got close.

They continued spinning around like a gigantic flaming U.F.O, then they shot into the air and resumed their missile pose. They zoomed around super fast while shooting down balls of thunder and fire and ice, like a rainstorm of heck. Bunnies screamed as they were either burned hairless, shocked senseless, or frozen solid.

Fox and Luigi then assumed a position between the pinwheel and the missile, and shot way into the air while spinning at high speed. A crackling thundercloud seemed to gather around them, then they shot towards the ground at super fast speed, spinning and bringing down a huge crackling column of storm cloud that expanded into a fully fledged tornado.

They slammed into the ground with incredible force, creating a shockwave that blasted outwards and sent many rabbids flying into the sky, screaming at such a high pitch Yoshi screamed and slapped his hands over his ears. The thundercloud faded and the immature tornado vanished, leaving behind a windswept battle area.

Terrified rabbids lay on the ground, breathing heavily and looking at the smashers with eyes wide as saucers. The smashers moved forwards, but the bunnies didn't make any moves. Instead, they quieted down and froze.

Luigi then jumped up to the top of the pillar, and beheld his bunny brother.

"…Mario." Luigi said. His eyes were watery. "…What did they DO to you?"

"Mamma mia." Mario shrugged, throwing his stubby arms up in the air in confusion. He was still Mario, only he was deprived of his normal form, and the ability to speak sensibly.

"C'mon, let's get ya home." Luigi said.

"Mamma mia!" Mario protested, pointing in the direction where the GUN base was.

"You still want to go?" Luigi said.

Mario nodded, and said: "Mamma mia!"

"Ok, everybody!" Luigi said. "We're still going to go to the GUN base."

"Fine with me." Bowser said. "I'll kick their butts, like it was THEM that did this to Mario!"

"Poyo." Kirby said.

"Mamma mia." Mario said, pointing at Kirby.

"Poyo?"

"Mamma mia!"

"Ohyo!" Kirby said, finally understanding. He tossed the plunger he was holding to Mario, who brandished it like a sword. He seemed to be good to go, holding a familiar tool.

"Mamma MIA!" Mario said, pointing back at the base.

"Alright, then." Luigi said. "We'll go kick GUN out of this swamp, then we'll see to getting you back to normal.

The plumber bunny nodded, then pointed at his feet and Luigi's feet.

"You want the jet boots back?" Luigi asked.

Mario shook his head, pointed back at Luigi's feet, then made an L shape out of his fingers.

"You want MY shoes?"

Mario nodded.

"Ok…" Luigi said, unsure. He grabbed his boots and handed them to Mario, who popped them on. They fit him ok…

"Time to go?" Luigi asked his brother.

"Mamma mia."

"Ok, let's go." Luigi said. He grabbed Mario and hopped down.

"Dang, you're even shorter than before." Bowser observed. He was rewarded with a loud snap as Mario slapped his foot with the plunger.

"YEOW!"

The rest of the smashers started walking back towards the base, and Bowser, hopping on one foot while yelling angrily, pursued.

In the shade, the rabbids watched anxiously.

What were they going to do, now?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**I wasn't sure how to end this chapter, so I did it the way I did.**

**I have nothing to say, other than I would like to know what you think!**

**I'll leave you with this: What happens next? Where's Samus? How are they going to help Mario return to normal? Will GUN finally get kicked good?**

**Is Mario good at battling with a plunger!?!?!?**

**YOU, my friends, get to find out sometime in the near future. Thank you all for reading and reviewing!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	30. Crashing the Camp

**Gosh, I'm glad it's the weekend. Ya really start to get tired of school after awhile, huh?**

**I want Christmas to be here, then I'd have a three-week break…I better not think about that or I'll lose my focus.**

**Anyways! Let's start this chapter…a few hours after the slightly disturbing and horrifying scene I'm sure a few people are still recovering from. (Sorry, Nintendogeek! I didn't mean to scare ya THAT bad…)**

**Forgive me, but that incident was inspired in me the moment I saw a picture of a Rabbid Mario in Game Informer. He was holding a sausage, and he looked…very very silly. So, I thought, why not stick these scary freaky bunnies in Corruption, and do something crazy?**

**PRESTO! There you have it. Bunny Mario was born. (More like transformed.)**

**I've goofed around on Deviant Art every once in a while, and I must say, I'm very tempted to start an account there like a few of my fellow story writers here at Fanfiction have done, but I think I'll save that for when I actually have the time…**

**I feel so lazy. I seriously wish school was over, but there's little I can do about it at this point in time. May as well grin and bear it, eh?**

**Let's start! Sorry I talked yer ears off, more like…NEVER MIND! Anyways, let's go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Roy, Kindly stop playing with that lighter." Dr. Mario asked as kindly as he could. His good temper was starting to wear, though…

Roy sat in the corner of the cell, flicking a lighter on and off, watching in childish awe as the sparks flared into a thin column of flame.

The only strange thing about it, was, the flames were curling and forming wispy loops of heat. Roy's stare intensified when the flames contorted.

"Roy, stop it and put that away." Dr. Mario said.

"Yeah, put it away!" A random guard yelled in annoyance.

Roy looked at the guard out of the corner of his eye, and said, "You make me put it away." He fussed.

The guard cursed bitterly under his breath and pulled out a gun. Roy snapped his fingers, and the gun was enveloped in a muffled explosion. The shells inside the gun exploded and destroyed the ammo chamber, and burned the guards hands.

"ARGH!" The guard yelled before stomping from the room.

"Now look what you've done." Dr. Mario moaned.

Roy resumed flicking his lighter, much to the doctor's chagrin.

"There's nothing else to do." Roy explained calmly. "Besides, I think I'm close to a breakthrough. I can't stop now."

"I hate to tell you, but you'll run out of lighter gas soon." Dr. Mario pointed out.

"That won't stop me." Roy claimed.

"This isn't getting us anywhere." Dr. Mario sighed. He slumped on the ground, and watched Roy play with the fire.

The doctor noted the look on his face. The childish joy, the glowing eyes…

Yep. He'd seen that same expression on Samus' face while she watched explosions.

It had to be an obsession.

Dr. Mario slapped himself mentally. Of COURSE it was an obsession!

Oh well, nothing else to do but wait…

Things hadn't gone that well for him after he escaped with Zelda. He got lost in the confusion, and stupidly got himself captured in a nearby town. After that they moved him to a different compound.

What for?

He settled himself down watching his pyromaniac friend play with fire.

Would he ever grow up?

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-Outlying area of the GUN camp-

It was the next morning, after Mario's hideous and disturbing transformation. The red plumber seemed to take everything in stride, not letting it bother him.

He WOULD have tried encouraging everybody else, but since all he could say was "Mamma mia", he kept his mouth shut and used sign language instead when he had to.

The night was rough on everyone else. They had very little sleep that night, and were in desperate need of a good shower.

They were back in the little clearing where Mario was originally mugged and captured, and it was there they planned their next move.

Mario sat quietly and observed every body else as the spoke, and nodded or shook his head if he liked a plan of not.

"Ok, why don't we grab some bushes and inch into camp then?" Yoshi asked.

"Because, duh, the cameras will spot us." Bowser growled.

"What about flying, then? Dive right in and BOOOM!?!?!" Yoshi said.

"No." Bowser replied in a bored voice. 

"I'll act all cute and starving to get in-"

"No."

"What about me AND Kirby, then?"

"No, they'll recognize you two, that's why."

"Then we'll get dis-"

"No."

"What about-"

"No."

"Ho-"

"No!" Bowser yelled. "Just….shush a minute and let everybody else brainstorm?"

"Yoshi." Yoshi muttered angrily. He sat down on his haunches and pouted, while a few more plans were Hot-Potatoed.

"Hmm…There's one thing I like about Yoshi's plan." Matt said, finally.

"What would THAT be?" Luigi asked.

"Disguises." Matt said simply.

"Look, no WAY am I-" Fox started ranting, but Matt held his hand up for silence.

"Ok, think about it this way: What's normal about this camp, so far?"

"What do you mean?" Link asked. "Be specific."

"Like, say, the soldiers do what all day? Ship supplies, dig at the excavation site, eat, sleep…"

"Get to the point." Bowser said. "And for your sake this better be good."

"Alright, then." Matt said. "My point is, sneak in on a supply truck!"

"That should be easy enough…" Paul said, in a satisfied tone. "How exactly do you want this pulled off?"

"Well…let's just say the camp's in for a loud surprise…hopefully." Matt said.

"Mamma mia!" Mario said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back on the road in the forest, there was a large GUN truck with more supplies in the back, much like the first truck the smashers saw earlier.

The soldiers in the front were being rowdy, singing "One hundred bottles of root beer" like a bunch of kids. In fact, they were singing it so loudly, they didn't hear the dull thud in the back of the truck as the drove on.

In the back of the truck, the tarp rustled a little bit. Beneath it was all of the smashers.

"We did it." Luigi said in a congratulatory tone.

"Next we have to knock the soldiers out." Bowser said.

"I think there's about three in the front, and two more in the back here…" Link whispered. "Shh!"

There were some thudding noises as a soldier clunked by in boots, and his shadow could be seen crossing the tarp. Matt quickly mimed knocking the soldiers out, and then mimed himself grabbing the wheel and driving the truck. Link protested in sign language, and said that he should drive the car.

Matt said NO.

------------------------

"Everything seems to be going good here." One of the soldiers said to his partner. He was on one side of the truck, and his partner was on the other. His partner gave him a thumbs up, and continued walking around.

"…Ya know, this is so pointless." The other soldier finally said. "We know those smashers are already too chicken to attack! What's the point in guarding this crap?"

"I don't know, pal, but we have to do what our officers tell us to do or our rations will be cut. And I'm not about to get my food cut! We don't get enough as it is."

"I think GUN's taking it too far. Do you know how many filthy Hylians and other people they've conscripted into the army? I can't stand them filthy elves!"

"Amen to that! They're too polite and wussy. Their pointy ears look like they'd break if you touched them, they're so dang thing and pointy. 'Hey, you there! Need a pencil sharpener for that ear?'"

"HA HA!!"

"Yeah, that was one of my pals came up with the other day. He's hilarious like that."

Under the tarp, Link was beet red, and seething with anger. He was usually a happy-go lucky person, but this was too much.

"Let me tell you about this one time-"

THUNK!

Link's harmless side of his blade smashed into the side of his head and knocked him completely out, and before the other soldier could yell, Kirby spat a crate out at him that knocked him off the truck and into the mud on the side of the road. He was out like a light.

Bowser threw the knocked out soldier into the mud after his pal, then watched as Yoshi ate the soldiers inside the truck cab and turned them into eggs. They screamed inside the giant eggs as fire and lightning zapped and burned them, then Yoshi tossed the eggs into the mud where the shells cracked and released three more unconscious soldiers.

"That's that." Luigi said.

Matt smashed the back window of the truck and squeezed in, and Kirby after him. Matt floored the pedal while Kirby rummaged about in the truck. He found some new candy bars and some root beer, and passed it to everybody that wanted some.

The truck screamed as it tore down the road, and what happened next happened so fast, there was no time to think about it.

"Sentries!" Matt yelled.

Up ahead there was a makeshift gate where two soldiers regulated and checked incoming supplies. They were already using a walkie talkie, alerting the base.

Matt jammed the pedal into the floor, and the truck screamed even more as it sped up. It slammed into the gate with a huge crack, and shattered the wood. The two soldiers were knocked away by flying debris, and were knocked unconscious.

In the woods around them, alarms blared loudly.

"It's only a matter of time before we get chased!" Matt yelled. "I need everybody to get into a position where they can shoot down pursuing jeeps, ANYTHING!"

"Ok, we still follow the plan, but we're rushed now." Fox said to everybody. "Just shoot at anybody or anything chasing!"

In the distance, everybody heard some more motors, and a few motorcycles with soldiers riding them came into view. Fox drew his staff with a flourish, and fired two fireball at the first two motorbikes. The front tires exploded and threw the soldiers into the air where they got caught in trees, and the motorbikes fell on a few of the other soldiers.

Three of the cyclists managed to avoid their fallen comrades, and started catching up with the runaway truck. Luigi stepped forwards and brandished his vacuum, and fired a huge sphere of ice. It hit the mud in the road and instantly turned it to ice.

The soldiers screamed as they shot across it, lost balance, and crashed in a huge explosion. There was another humming noise, and a bunch of sentry drones flew from the woods on either side of the truck.

Bowser sent waves of white energy from his claws as he slashed them through the air, and destroyed a few of the robots. Paul cast Magnet on a few of the others, and struck the mass of robots with Thunder. Kirby leapt up before a robot could tackle Bowser, and he blasted it out of the sky with a star ray.

While they were distracted, two jeeps roared down the muddy road behind them. The smashers turned to face them, just as the soldiers in the jeeps stood up and pulled out machine guns.

TATTA TATTA TATTA TATTA TATTA!

Bullets pinged and screeched through the air, and the smashers dived for cover. Pichu sneaked into a good position and let loose a burst of lightning, but it missed and the soldiers focused fire on her. She swirled back behind a crate of jackhammers, which splintered and scattered broken equipment everywhere. Link then jumped out of hiding and shot a bomb arrow he had prepared, and the explosion tipped one of the jeeps over backwards. Another jeep filled its place.

"Magnera!" Paul cried.

He created another, more powerful magnetic field and caught all of the bullets inside it. The magnetic field pulled the guns from the soldier's hands, and then Kirby inhaled all of the metal and turned into…

Metal kirby!

He landed on the back of the truck with a thunk, just when Luigi and Yoshi got an idea. Yoshi and Luigi tag-teamed with Metal kirby to pull of Super Magnet Bros!

Yoshi wrapped his electrified tongue around Kirby, and Luigi sent tons of volts of energy flowing into Kirby's body. A huge magnetic field emanated from his body, and started smashing the jeeps, and robots up.

After a few concussive explosions resulting from the smashed machines, Luigi hopped on Yoshi's back while Yoshi's tongue stuck to Kirby like glue.

They jumped into the air, and Yoshi did a flutter jump. Luigi grabbed Yoshi's hind legs and used his Luigi Cyclone attack, while charging Yoshi with his Thunder Hand. Yoshi laid thunder eggs everywhere that Luigi knocked away, and Kirby's body gave off magnetic pulses that disrupted machines and made them stick together, allowing the eggs to hit them and explode into crackly explosions.

"Mamma mia!" Mario said.

Luigi let Yoshi go, and flipped back onto his saddle in time to land. Yoshi started swinging Kirby around like a mace, and his magnetism turned him into a magnetic cruise mace! He homed in on jeeps and smashed into them in huge explosions, crushing them with his weight, and crumpling them up with his magnet body.

After crushing a bunch of baddies in this manner, Kirby detached himself from Yoshi's tongue, and started breathing in deeply. Luigi and Yoshi touched him and charged his body with more lightning, and then Kirby inhaled sharply. Scrap metal flew into his mouth from everywhere and collected inside him, and after he inhaled enough…

"Iron Gale!" Yoshi and Luigi cried. "POYO!"

Magnetically charged metal flew from his mouth like a machine gun, sticking to targets that were affected by magnetism. Jeeps started slowing down from the incredible weight, and robots exploded from the magnetic bullets.

Kirby, Yoshi, and Luigi snapped their fingers once, and a huge burst of lightning exploded from all the metal, destroying everything in a huge storm of sparks and fire.

Everybody looked forwards, and screamed.

"HANG ON!" Matt yelled.

He drove the truck through a huge security gate with an atomic crash, and they were in the camp.

"Guess it's time to blow this taco stand!" Bowser said. He inhaled, then breathed out a huge cloud of white-hot flame.

Everybody jumped out of the truck as it screamed into the camp, a flaming bomb.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The truck erupted into a mini mushroom cloud with the first explosion, then it was followed by a series of explosion, with the last one being the gas in the engine. Soldiers everywhere were knocked to the ground by the shockwave, and everybody was deaf now, too. Half of the camp was destroyed by the explosion, but that just wasn't enough.

Soldiers rushed about like waves of ants, and in a few seconds, they were surrounded hopelessly.

"Any _OTHER _ideas, Matt?" Bowser asked in an angry tone.

"FIRE!" An officer yelled.

"REFLECT!" Paul yelled.

He threw his hands down on the ground and spread his arms out, and a shiny, transparent barrier appeared around the smashers. Bullets pinged off of it and made whistling and screeching noises, and soldiers close to the barrier dropped dead, full of bullet wounds.

"Poyo!" Kirby said. He waved the star rod and made a wish, and everybody was enveloped in a glowing aura.

"Oh yeah! It's good to feel this again!" Bowser said, flexing his muscles. He charged from inside the barrier, and crashed into the mob of soldiers. They fired bullets at him but they harmlessly bounced off. Bowser slugged a soldier nearby and sent him flying into other soldiers, knocking them all down. He whirled around and exhaled a gigantic cloud of white flames that vaporized the soldiers, leaving no trace of them left.

Kirby grabbed a soldier and jumped way into the air with him, then shot down at super sonic speed and slammed him into the ground. The resulting shockwave blew the soldiers surrounding him away. Some of them flew into Yoshi, who hit them with his thick and stubby tail. They flew away screaming, and the dino threw eggs at them like a grenade launcher. Paul used his sword to send a few wind cutters flying through the soldiers, then he started swinging and slashing at the nearest enemies. Pichu sat on top of Luigi's hat and shot electricity everywhere while Luigi threw balls of lightning and fired chunks of ice from his vacuum.

Matt charged into the throng of soldiers and fired fire bullets at the ground. The ground caught on fire and so did a few of the soldiers. They ran around screaming, and caught other soldiers on fire. Bowser torched more of them with his fire breath, then stepped aside as Link pulled out a huge gunpowder keg.

"Been saving this 'un for a party. Good thing I did so, eh?" Link grinned like a maniac. He threw the keg into the fire, and an explosion nearly as big as the truck explosion blew into the sky, knocking more soldiers down and catching yet more on fire.

"Idiot! You'll burn down the forest!" Fox yelped. He pulled his staff out and focused its energy into his blaster, then fired icy lasers as fast as he could at the fire. The fire hissed as some of it was put out, and a few soldiers were frozen solid in the confusion.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!

A huge gusty roar of wind blew over the camp, and the fires were promptly quenched by the fierce gale.

"WHAT THE HECK!?!?" Link yelled.

"I think somebody's landing a ship!" Fox yelled over the wind.

They hadn't noticed it until now, but the sky was overcast with dark grey clouds.

"I can't see nothing." Bowser said. "You sure?"

"I thought I saw something dark flying that way." Luigi said, pointing away from the clearing.

"That's where the excavation site is!" Link said. "At least, that's what those signs over there say…"

"That sign says camping site!" Matt moaned. "The excavation site is the other way!"

"Hey…where's Mario?" Luigi asked suddenly.

"Huh, I thought he was…Dang!" Paul said. "Where was he when the truck crashed?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Oh CRAP!" Bowser said. "We better head back to the truck, we've wandered a bit from where we arrived…"

"We need to hurry." Matt agreed. "We couldn't have taken out all of the soldiers, they must have gone back to the truck!"

Thunder crackled overhead as they ran back to the camp. A big storm was brewing, which was normal for the area because the weather was always foul. The smashers were lucky to have good weather so far, but their luck was about to turn plain rotten.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-OOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!

"Huh?" Dr. Mario wondered aloud.

"What's up, Doc?" Roy asked sleepily. He was sleeping on one of the hard prison beds, until the alarms started going off.

"I don't know, but I think now's the time to break out!" Dr. Mario said.

"YIPPEE!" Roy squealed joyfully. He bounded off of the bed like a loaded spring, and landed right next to Dr. Mario by the bars. He pulled out his lighter and kissed it, then flicked it on.

The flames coming from the lighter started weak, but Roy stared at it very intensely, and the flames suddenly crackled and hissed loudly as they turned into a jet of flame not unlike a welding torch. Roy aimed the lighter at the bars in front of him.

There was a roar, and a burst of flame erupted from the lighter and formed a ring around five of the bars. The ring was made of solid flame, and as Roy stared at it, he egged it on under his breath.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on!" He said.

The flames spun faster and faster, all the while getting brighter and whiter. The flames screeched, then contracted and snapped the bars like sticks, scattering cold metal in the explosions resulting from the flames touching the metal.

Roy pulled out his blade for good measure, and hacked through what was left of the hot bars.

"…Wow." Dr. Mario said.

"I TOLD you I was close to a breakthrough!" Roy grinned silly. "But, YOU told me to stop playing with my lighter!" At this, he stuck his tongue out and made a "Mweah!" noise.

Dr. Mario rolled his eyes. "Let's go, Roy!"

"Those GUN dummies will get it now!" Roy cackled evilly.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The smashers ran towards the excavation site after checking the truck: It was completely empty, but thankfully there was no trace of Mario there.

So, everybody concluded, the plumber must have escaped.

Luigi and the smashers ran towards the excavation site as fast as they could, in hopes that they might find out whether Samus finally landed, and if they would find Mario.

They broke through the woody path into an open clearing, where in the middle stood an old, weathered temple made of black stone. There was a walkway that ran across a lake of dark brown mud, but parts of the pathway were missing.

The temple was about the size of a courthouse, but there were sinister carvings on the pillars at the front, and on the stairs.

The smashers stopped to look at the temple from afar, and even then it was imposing. It loomed over them like an ominous cloud, giving the surrounding area a bleak and depressing aura.

"…What in Master Hand's name is Gun doing here with THIS place?" Luigi asked, surprised.

"This place is evil." Paul said. "Can't you feel it?"

"PiCHU!"

"…There's Samus' ship!" Link said, pointing at the orange ship partially hidden in the woods to their right.

"So she's here after all." Matt said. "We should keep going if we want to meet up with her."

"Poyo!"

"I still wonder what this place is, though." Fox said. "I'd like to know…"

"I'm not going to worry my head over stuff I don't know. I'm not waiting for anything or anybody!" Bowser said. He stomped forwards and walked to the bridge. He hopped across the broken parts of the walkway, passing over the thick, stinking sludge.

Link and Luigi looked at each other and shrugged, then everybody walked to the bridge and passed over it into the temple.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"It's starting to really pick up out here." Dr. Mario observed as he pressed his hair against his head to keep it out of his face. The sky was really dark, and lightning flashed across the sky often.

Roy looked up at the sky with childish glee.

"Hey, Doc! Didja know people used to think lightning was fire from space?!?!"

"Yes, yes." Dr. Mario said calmly, used to his friend's idiot ravings by now. "I'm familiar with past history, Roy."

"Hey, I still live in it!" Roy said.

"Right." Dr. Mario said. He knew it was best to always agree with crazy people. Roy had never been right in the head since he'd been first captured.

_Dang, they must have hit him on the head really hard. _Doc thought. _Roy used to be one of the most sensible people I know, but not anymore…_

"He he! I LOVISH FIRE!" Roy whooped.

"Hey, Roy!" Dr. Mario said. He had just noticed some footprints on the ground he recognized: Luigi's Bowser's, and Yoshi, along with a few others we was unsure about because of the rain. "Roy! I see some fire footprints! Don't you wanna find out where it went!?!"

"YAY! THAT'D BE AWESOME!" Roy said. Dr. Mario grinned, satisfied that he had baited Roy. They followed the footprints as fast as the mud and bad weather would allow.

They ran through the protective wooded path, and when they got to the temple, they saw Kirby walking in.

"Just how many of our fellows are here, anyways?" Dr. Mario wondered.

"I wanna see fire!" Roy demanded.

"There's fire in the building!" Dr. Mario said. "It went inside so it wouldn't get wet!"

"I wanna see my friend!" Roy whined. "Let's go already!"

"Right!" Dr. Mario said. He took two steps forward before there was a loud rush, then the ground in front of him exploded and flung him into Roy.

When the dust faded, a Magikoopa in black robes stood there, holding an evil wicker rod dyed black. It was topped with a black statue carved into the likeness of a black widow spider.

"Trespassers will be sacrificed to the great spirit Radjun." The Magikoopa chanted in a dark voice.

"Wait, where the did you come from?" Dr. Mario demanded. "I never knew of this temple before!"

"You are trespassers, and trespassers on the holy grounds of Radjun must be sacrificed to appease the spirit of this temple." The magikoopa said. There was a few more rushing noises, and the ground exploded a few more times to reveal more black Magikoopas.

"Ok, you asked for it!" Dr. Mario said, pulling out a surgical knife and his stethoscope. Roy brandished his sword, and faced the black koopas with a serious look.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Upon entering the temple, the first room they entered the ceiling was very high, and there was two staircases along the walls that led up to a balcony where there was a huge door.

WHOOSH!

Black smoke erupted from the ground in a systematic fashion, and black magikoopas appeared, all holding sinister rods. One magikoopa stood in front of the big doors. He was a tad taller than the rest of the koopas, had a tall steeple hat with a white tip, and had a staff that had a black spider statue that adorned the top. The spider was standing on its rear legs. Its other legs were spread out in a fan pattern, and its fangs were large and nasty looking.

"Intruders, beware. You have trespassed on the grounds of Radjun's temple, and for that you must pay with your blood." He hissed in an ugly, thick voice.

"What!?!?!" Everybody yelled.

"Who the heck is Radjun?" Bowser growled.

"How dare you speak his name, you filthy rouge!?!?" The leader screeched. "You disrespectful worms will be pounded into the ground, where he will feast on your corpses! Faithful brothers, attack!"

SLAM!

The smashers whirled around, and yelped in shock when they saw Samus standing there in the doorway.

"More intruders!" The cultists wailed.

"Samus! Good timing! We were wonderi-" Link started saying, but was silenced when Samus pulled up her arm, and aimed her cannon at them.

"Samus!" Matt yelled. "What does this mean?"

"Hand over Mario, and I won't bother you and your silly quest." She said in a disdainful tone.

"Wait…Did you join GUN?!?" Fox asked, yelling.

Samus stood there, but then her helmet split in half and lowered into her suit, revealing her head.

On her face, was the evilest smile anybody had ever seen her with.

"…If that's how you want it, then we're not holding back." Paul said.

"Poyo!"

"Do you speak of the red plumber?" The black bishop koopa asked. "Ha! He's being sacrificed as we speak."

"NO!!!" The smashers yelled.

"I'm not leaving without him." Samus said. "If he dies, I'm going to make you all experience a so terrible, you BEG to be sacrificed to that spider!"

The smashers quickly spun around, back to back, as Samus kept her gun up and a few more koopas teleported into the room.

They were surrounded, but they weren't going to let anything get in their way.

…Even if it meant fighting a former friend and fighter.

Samus and the koopas charged at the same time, and the smashers jumped forwards and met them head on.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Tell me what you think.**

**I made all this up, but that does not mean I'm going to tell you about it. Trust me, it's all perfectly relevant to the plot. I'm not messing around and being and idiot this time.**

**Thank you all for reading! I'll see you next time, so take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and PLEASE Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**(Second longest chapter in the story, so far! Oh yeah! 4700+ words!)**


	31. The Spirit Radjun

**OH YEAH! **

**I'm happy! Those five reviews I got were awesome…Thank you, everybody!**

**I am very glad to know everybody liked the last chapter, but how will ye like THIS one!?!? I hope yeh do: it's going to be a big brawl chapter! Yes, a big battle. HOW long, I dunno, but it will at least be longer than the average chapter so far, which is about 3300 words long.**

**I seriously hope you enjoy it! Now, let's-a go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

It was disgusting how easy it was to hack through limbs with this knife, Dr. Mario reflected. Weather raged like Zeus himself was throwing a tantrum, with thunder booming everywhere and the rain falling down like it was being poured out of a giant bucket.

He was drenched to the bone, and his doctor's scrubs were getting heavy, but he didn't let that slow him down. His twelve inch long surgical knife shone spotless in the rain as he swung it, and whenever he hit a koopa, it sliced through them like a hot knife through butter, it was so sharp. It was as smooth and cool as ice.

Dr. Mario ducked under a random cloud of geometric shapes that was shot at him from one of the koopas, and he whipped his head back up and spun like a cyclone, swinging his stethoscope like a mace. He smashed the weighted tip against a koopa's temple, instantly felling him. He spun it around his head and jumped and weaved through a few more spells, then smashed into the horde of magikoopas like a hurricane. He clubbed the koopas at range with his stethoscope, while fending them off at close range with the knife.

A koopa swung its staff at his head, and the doctor dodged it by bending under it backwards like a gymnast. He backflipped and flew over a storm of spells, the landed and strafed around the koopas and fell on them again. He spun the shiny metal device above his head and bonked a few more of them on the heads, spun to the side and avoided a spell, then used the momentum to behead a koopa on his left. He held the end of his stethoscope and threw the end at another koopa, and broke his nose.

"Let me fix that for you." He said as he ran towards him and jumped into the air. He rattled off kicks on his head, looking like he was running in air. He kicked the unconscious koopa away and ducked under a bunch of staff swings, and kicked them all away with a sweep kick.

He sneaked a look at Roy, and was satisfied to see him fight the koopas off as good as he had ever done.

Roy whipped his sword about, the sword ringing like a bell every time it struck a foe. He parried staffs swings and countered the attacks, parrying others he was unable to reflect. He swung his sword about so quickly the air in front of him shined like a transparent metal bubble, and the magikoopas were forced to retreat in terror.

They fired spells at him in a pattern, hoping to force him on the defensive. Instead, the reckless red head charged them like a maddened dragon, and blew five of them to smithereens with a Flare Blade. He side stepped another koopa as it ran at him and swung its staff. He tripped it and it flew into the air, and Roy slashed its back. It was dead before it hit the ground.

"Legacy!" Roy cried. He spun counter clockwise in a full circle, and slashed his sword once. A huge horizontal column of flame erupted from his sword, and formed what looked like a dragon's head. The flames made a roaring noise as it passed through the magikoopas, and the ones hit instantly burned down to ashes. Roy quickly resumed his attacking, swinging his sword like a mad man. There was no order or style to his sword attacks, so the koopas did the only thing they thought made sense.

They fled.

"I'm not done with you yet, you bloody cowards!" Roy yelled. There was an explosion of flame from his back, and large scaly red wings protruded from his shoulders. He charged the koopas at a faster speed than before, then Dr. Mario noticed he was flapping his wings as a speed booster.

Roy was nearly flying across the ground, his legs were moving so fast. He crashed into the koopas like lightning, and beat on them with quicker sword swings. The black garbed magikoopas screamed in fear, and tried zapping Roy with black magic, but the spells glanced off him, doing him no harm.

Roy leapt into the air, and there was a HUGE explosion. There was a mushroom cloud and a pillar of flames shot up where Roy jumped.

"Holy crap, that was his Blazer attack!" Dr. Mario realized.

Roy landed with a thump on his feet, and his wings vanished in another burst of flame.

"Hey, didn't you say the fire went in the temple?" Roy asked.

"Yes, I did, as a matter of fact." Dr. Mario said.

"WELL, WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR!?!?" Roy asked, grinning like a kid. "Let's go!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The magikoopas moved like a ring of storm clouds, running in blurs around the room while firing spells. Paul, Kirby, and Ness focused on reflecting attacks sure to hit them or other smashers, while the other seven fought savagely against their enemies.

Fox spun his staff around continually, slashing and stabbing foes continuously while firing lasers off every time he could afford to. He blocked a swing from a magikoopa as it ran past him and then he fired a laser at its back only to have it canceled out by a stray spell. He ducked under stray geometric shapes and silently cursed math and related subjects as he fought back the mages. He zipped out of the way of at least five spells, then froze the offending mages with a gust of icy wind. He dashed through them then they exploded, cut to fist sized chunks by his staff.

He yelped and jumped out of the way of a massive charge shot that almost fried him, and activated his reflector to block a few spells.

Samus charged at him, nearly oblivious to the magikoopas. She fired another charge shot with almost no charge time, and Fox was forced to use his Fox Illusion to get out of the way. The beam vaporized a few magikoopas that were stupid enough to not move.

Samus revealed a beamsword in her left hand, and Fox barely had time to block the lethal blade as she aimed for his shoulder.

"You should just give up and let me take Mario." Samus said. "Either way, you're going to lose, and you may as well save yourself the trouble."

"You picked the wrong guy to tell surrender to!" Fox said.

Samus jerked her beamsword back, causing the fox humanoid to lose his balance and stumble forwards. She arced the sword backwards over her head, then rammed it forwards to stab him through the heart. He spun away and swung his staff at her side, which she blocked with her right arm. She bent her arm to make the staff glance off her and miss her entirely, and she swung sideways at Fox's side like he had just done. He brought his staff up and blocked the swing, but the force of it pushed him back.

CLANG!

Samus charged forwards and punched at Fox's skull with her heavy cannon, but he moved his head aside and watched subconsciously as the cannon smashed into the black stone wall and stung his face with debris. He shot under Samus' legs and spun around to hit her with the staff again, but she matched his speed and swung around and blocked with her knee. She dropped onto one foot and sweep kicked. He leapt over her leg, and rolled in the air as she swung her other foot at him like and axe. He landed on one hand, and somersaulted away before she could stab him.

Instead, she fired a charge shot.

"From the sword!?!?" Fox yelped in shock. He kicked off the ground mightily and flew into the air, flipping like a skilled acrobat. Samus swung her sword again and sent out a shockwave that Fox dodged with a small boost from his staff.

He flipped towards her and spun like a wheel. He saw that the beamsword was linked to her suit of armor, but then he was axe kicked in the side. He hit the ground hard, and rolled out of the way to avoid a Super missile.

"You asked for it!" Fox said. He drained all of the power from the staff into his blaster, which caused the metal to glow blue. Samus fired another charge shot, and Fox countered with a laser powered up with his Quake spell.

The two attacks collided and exploded, and Fox's laser sent out a shockwave that blew the two fighters backwards, interrupting their battle. He was quickly surrounded by magikoopas, but before they could attack, Fox shot them with fire lasers. They screamed as the hot red light blasted through their bodies, and they fell to the ground and thrashed a few moments before laying still as fire ate them from the inside out.

Link fought like a whirling dervish, hacking and slashing faster than he remembered going. He knocked a bunch of koopas away with his spin attack, then rolled round a group that fired a bunch of spells at him. He jumped into the air and swung once, and the five koopas fell to the ground headless. Link spun on his toes like a top, and slashed through another koopa with a horizontal slash and then hacked another two with a horizontal slash. There was a whoosh sound and he was surrounded by a bunch more magikoopas. He was already in the air, coming down with his sword glowing fiercely.

"HY YAHHHHHHH!!" Link yelled. The master sword rang against the ground, which rippled and blew the nearby koopas to pieces with a quick and savage tremor. He whirled around and jumped backwards onto a rail that went up the stairs. He walked backwards and pulled out his bow and started firing arrows at the koopas as he gained height.

He stayed up on the edge and fired arrows as quickly as he could while he was up on the balcony, but soon he was spotted by the magikoopa bishop.

Link looked to his left, and ducked in surprise. A huge and powerful spell soared over his head and slammed into the wall near him, and exploded like one of his powder kegs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" He yelled. The explosion flung him from the balcony, and he soared through the air, completely vulnerable.

Samus looked up at the sound of the explosion, and saw Link flying through the air, completely open.

"Perfect." Samus said. She was a nanosecond away from firing her grapple beam at Link, then she found herself flying through the air as she was tackled aside.

She looked down at her torso where Kirby clung. She realized He had grabbed her and went flying into the air with her. He swiftly brought them down, but at the last second Samus activated her jets and broke free of Kirby's grip. He hit the ground like a bomb, and he came out of the crater just as she landed. He was still dazed from the crash.

Smirking, Samus pushed her cannon in his face and fired her Wavebuster.

Kirby screamed as millions of volts of electricity pumped into his body. The force of the attack threw him into the air like a weightless rag in a wind tunnel. His body started smoking, and the scent of burnt flesh quickly permeated his nostrils. He screamed in agony for the pain to stop, but Samus continued pumping lightning into his body.

"SAMMY!" Kirby screamed. "PWEASE!!!! STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!"

Samus ignored his piteous plea, and advanced on him.

"SAMMYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kirby screamed. Stars were exploding inside his eyes, and his skin felt like he was taking a bath in boiling oil.

"SAAAAAAMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kirby sobbed, his big eyes running. He lost control of his body and convulsed violently.

Then, suddenly, the pain stopped. He sobbed, and choked on his breath. He promptly rolled over and vomited, then lost consciousness.

Samus stood up, and pulled her left hand back from her face to look at the liquid running down her hand.

Blood.

Matt's metal fist broke her nose, and she looked up from her blood streaked hand to the nearly adult genius, who stood about a yard away from her, with his metal fist drawn back.

"Don't make me." Matt warned. "I'll do it."

"Don't worry, you won't have to." Samus said, blankly.

Matt took a second to look over his shoulder at Kirby, who was being protected by Paul and Ness. Happy that Kirby was amply protected, he turned back to Samus.

"Your move." He said.

"Fool." Samus said. She swung her sword, and a Sonicboom exploded from it. Matt's body went senseless when the attack slammed into his body, then he was blown back by the invisible sound wave. He crashed into the ground, and suddenly his whole body ached like he had been beaten and left to die.

He was barely ready when Samus fell on him. She attacked with her right arm first. Matt rolled out of the way as a deadly spurt of flame erupted from her gun right where his head had been. He spun around and jumped into the air in an attempt to hit her head with a roundhouse kick. She caught his leg and forced him to drop to the ground, where he punched her with a fiery fist and forced her to let go. He brandished his emerald blade as she pulled out her beamsword, and they quickly engaged each other in an unrelenting battle of swords and guns.

"Where do they keep coming from?" Paul asked Ness as he fired sonic wind cutters that easily sliced and diced koopas.

"I don't know." Ness said. "I don't sense all of them, which is really strange. PSI Heal Gamma!"

Ness focused a bit of healing power into Kirby's prostrate body, which healed some of the burn wounds. "This is gonna take a while. Samus fried the little guy good!"

"My nose can tell me that much." Paul said dismissively, focused on attacking long range with spells while repelling any enemy projectiles. "Is he going to be ok?"

"I think so!" Ness said, healing Kirby with another PSI gamma. "Samus really fried him, but he'll be ok. I doubt he'll want marshmallows after this!"

Paul laughed weakly at Ness's joke, and reflected a few spells with a transparent blue dome created by blue hexagons of energy.

"Reflect Crystal!" Paul said. The dome broke up into a whirling cloud of hexagonal energy saws, and at his bidding it swept across the battlefield and sawed magikoopas to pieces. Some of the koopas vanished, though…

"Hey! Wait a second!" Paul exclaimed. "Those stupid Koopas are mostly using mirages to battle us!"

"WHAT?" Ness asked incredulously.

"Yeah! Those stupid cowards can't face us face to face, so they fight us off with clones!" Paul said. "But, I think I can find the originals if you give me time…"

"…Poyo?" Kirby asked weakly.

"Kirby!" Ness said. "You gonna be ok?"

Kirby looked up as if thinking deeply, then looked back at Ness and nodded. Ness helped the puffball warrior up, and then Kirby healed himself the rest of the way with the star rod.

"I'm going to leave my body for a bit." Paul said. "Can you two cover me? Those koopas are surely going to sense me, and things will get hectic!"

"No problem." Ness said.

"Thank ya heartily." Paul said. "See ya in a bit!" He closed his eyes and clasped his hands over his chest, then his sword flashed briefly and vanished. Paul's body sagged, then flopped over like a rubber dummy.

"Eww." Ness nearly gagged.

The magikoopas in the fight suddenly froze and looked about wide-eyed, then spotted Paul's unconscious body.

"Attack the Mage knight! He's onto us!" The bishop roared. He charged up a massive swirling ball of knowledge above his head, and shot the spell at Ness. Kirby jumped in front of him and swallowed the mass of energy and swallowed it, but…nothing happened?

White hair suddenly sprung from Kirby's head, and formed a puffy white puff of hair on his head. He grew a white moustache, then yelled, "EMC squared!"

"Einstein Kirby!?!?" Ness said, surprised yet again.

Kirby started spouting off random bits of physics, which surprised the magikoopas. He quoted Newton's Law of gravity, which somehow caused a purple ball of distorted gravity to form above the impressed koopas's heads. The ball fell, and in an instant the koopas were crushed under the huge gravitational forces and killed.

Kirby prattled on and on, killing baddies with increased air pressure, superheating them until they melted, and finally finished off by breaking a few of them down into their base elements.

Kirby was enveloped in a flash, and the ability star he was using flew into the air and vanished. The koopas started raining rays of geometry towards him and Ness from all over the room, and he and Kirby teamed up to create a reinforced PSI Magnet. They absorbed all of the spells and started glowing, then they released the energy in a shockwave that blasted all of the nearby koopas into oblivion.

"Alright!" Paul said finally, springing back up. He spun around and blasted the wall away behind the, revealing a hidden passage that housed a few koopas.

"Darn, we've been found!" One fussed. Paul fried them with Fiery Serpent attack, and the hidden room collapsed on the burnt koopas. Paul turned back, faced the rest of the room, and fired exploding blasts of fire, revealing tons of hidden rooms.

"Shoot the koopas!" Paul yelled. Fox, Pichu, Link, Luigi, Bowser, and Ness and Kirby quickly torched the cowardly koopas, causing much of the room to fall apart.

"Curses!" The koopa bishop yelled. "Retreat for now, brethren! They cannot triumph over us so easily!"

In a rushing whoosh, all of the remaining koopas vanished in a cloud of smoke, and just like that they were gone from the room.

"Finally." Samus said. "No more stupid interruptions!"

"SAMMY!"

"WHAT NOW!?!?" Samus yelled, her face red with anger. She whirled around and looked at the two figures standing in the destroyed doorway.

"Hello, Sammy!" Roy said, waving excitedly and grinning like an idiot.

"Hey, Samus. Long time no see!" Dr. Mario said, with a trace of a smile.

"Great, more idiots." Samus said. "I think it's time to break loose my newest skill."

"Dr. Mario! Roy! Samus is out of her mind, and she's trying to capture Mario for GUN!" Matt yelled.

"Sammy! Did I say, you're looking hot today?" Roy said, giving her double thumbs up.

"Activate Hyper Mode!" Samus cried. She hovered into the air with her arms spread wide, then suddenly her armor color changed blue. Lightning danced across her armor and the green energy lines running through her suit turned white as blue liquid crystallized and oozed from the lines. Samus landed back on the ground, glowing with radioactive energy.

"You wanted to die, so I'll make this quick." Samus said, simply.

She vanished in a flash, she was moving so quick.

BLAM!

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!" Fox screamed. He flew into the air when a morph ball bomb exploded under his feet, one that hadn't been there a second ago.

BLAM!

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!

Everybody soared into the air, and watched as Samus zoomed past them in slow motion.

SHISH SLASH SHING SHISH SHING SLASH SHING SHING!!!!!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

"POYOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

"AAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"PICHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!"

Everybody fell back to the ground, slashed all over their bodies with wounds that oozed blue goo.

Samus turned around and faced them again, and her weapons were visible for the first time since she activated hyper mode. Her beamsword was blue and blue lightning danced across it at high speed, and her arm cannon was opened up enough to reveal tons of phazon pulsing inside of it while lightning danced across it and through the phazon crystals that formed across it.

Paul, Ness, and Kirby teamed up to power heal everybody back to tip top shape, and everybody faced the souped up Samus.

"I see you're resourceful enough to take care of yourselves, at least." Samus chuckled darkly.

Kirby moaned as he looked at his blue wounds, but as he sat there, trying to wipe the gunk off, it started sinking into his body.

"Kirby!" Matt said. "What's happening to the phazon?"

"…Poyo?"

"You ABSORBED IT!?!?!"

"That-That's impossible…" Samus said suddenly.

"Mweah!" Kirby said, sticking out his tongue.

"If you're going to misuse your powers, Samus, we'll take them from you." Luigi said.

"Sammy!" Roy asked. "Why are you being mean?"

"Mean? MEAN!?!?" Samus yelled. "Nobody's trying to save me, nobody's going to save me from those Federation and GUN !!! I'm just doing what nobody else will do! I'm…I'm…"

"Samus, we've been working tirelessly for weeks ourselves." Link said. "We're trying to dismantle GUN ourselves, but it takes a team effort. Are you honestly so willing to betray your friends, just to get our enemies off your back long enough for you to take a break?"

"They're going to keep coming at you." Fox said. "You may try turning us in for more time, but eventually, you'll have to choose to either turn yourself in, or keep running away, powerless to stop them."

"I've taken on all of the space pirates before!" Samus yelled. "I…"

"Samus, even though I ain't traveling with these noobs, I know they're doing the right thing. We all are." Bowser said.

"And I'm not?" Samus asked. "Yeah, maybe I always AM wrong, then! Then it won't matter if I turn you idiots in. I'm always doing the wrong thing!! MAYBE I'LL NEVER DO THE RIGHT THING!"

"That's not what I meant-"

"SHUT UP!" Samus screamed. "I'm so confused, and all you jerk do is sit here and criticize me instead of help me! I NEED HELP, AND NOBODY'S EVER GOING TO HELP ME!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Samus screamed hysterically, holding her head while tears poured out of her eyes. Everybody stared at her in shock, trying to imagine all of the emotional stress she was going through.

"E-Everybody's b-b-betrayed m-me!" Samus wailed. "I-I- can't stand you!" She forced herself to stand up, and tried vainly to wipe the tears out of her eyes but rivers poured down her cheeks down along her neck. Her helmet closed over her head with a hiss, but her sobbing could still be heard.

"Dr. Mario, do something!" Matt said.

"What do I look like to you? A psychologist?" Dr. Mario asked angrily.

"Frankly, yes."

"Well, I'm NOT!"

"I…I think I'm going to kill myself…" Samus whispered. "…I hate everything, I hate everybody, but I really, really hate myself…"

"I love you, sammy!" Roy said with a genuinely worried look. "I don't hate you."

"But, I hate myself…I'd rather be dead." Samus said. She slowly pulled up her beamsword up, like she was about to stab her heart.

FWOOM!

Roy's wings burst out of his shoulders, and he charged towards Samus as fast as he could. Before Samus had time to make the fatal plunge, Roy tackled her. The momentum caused them to fly towards the wall. Roy flapped once and shot into the air a few feet, and the duo crashed through the giant stone doors leading deeper into the temple.

The smashers ran up the partly destroyed staircases, and into the room after Roy and Samus.

The room they were inside was gigantic, and took up at least most of the temple's space. It was gothic in style, dreary, black, and with a depressing aura about it. The room was dark except for the red, purple, and crimson stained windows which were lit up with moonlight, and the towering blue flames that roared in their cauldrons of powder, struggling to break free and consume everything.

Samus was on the ground, with Roy on top of her. She was breathing in short and ragged gasps riddled with the occasional hiccup and sniffle. She still hadn't let go of the beamsword, and Roy pinned down the hand holding it.

"Please be happy…" Roy said mournfully. "I want you to be happy!"

"How can I?" Samus asked. "I've never felt safe, ever. Ever…"

"You'll be safe with us, Sammy. I promise. I won't let GUN or that thrice Federation get you."

"…Y-You promise?" Samus asked quietly, almost like she hoped it was true, but knew it couldn't be.

"I promise." Roy said. "Right here." At this, he pointed at his chest.

"THANK YOU!!!" Samus seized him and lost control completely, breaking down in his arms.

"…I hate to be an insensitive wart…" Matt said, "But, where's Mario?"

WHOOSH!

The magikoopa leader appeared at the altar at the end of the room, and after a bunch more whooshes, he was surrounded by the remaining magikoopas.

"Ha Ha! You are too late to save Mario, unless you wish to fetch him yourself." The leader snickered evilly.

"What did you do!?!?" Luigi demanded fiercely.

"Eh, only dropped him down a hole underneath this shrine for Radjun to feast on his flesh." The bishop said simply, pushing his spectacles up closer to his eyes. "Nothing complicated." The koopa finished, with an evil grin.

"I feel like SUCH and idiot…" Samus said, standing up. "You picked the wrong day to mess with the smashers!"

Her arm cannon glowed with blue light, and a ball of blue plasma formed on the end of her cannon. The blue energy in her suit flashed towards her cannon in waves, layering the ball of Phazon in layer upon layer of pure corruptive energy.

"Hyper Missile!" Samus cried. She fired a Super missile charged with phazon, and it created such a burst of energy she was thrown backwards.

The blue missile slammed into the altar where the koopas were, and the hugest explosion ever caused by a radioactive missile obliterated the altar and the koopas. They were instantly vaporized, without a chance to even scream. Blue plasma arced everywhere like mini solar flares, and blue lightning skittered across the floor before fading into the ground.

"If GUN was here they'd probably quarantine the area now." Samus said, unable to help cracking a grin.

"Do you think we'll be hurt by it?" Bowser asked.

"Kirby won't be hurt by it, isn't that right?" Samus said.

"POYO!?!??!"

"You fought Metroid Prime, right? In Dhaos' castle?"

"…Poy." Kirby said.

"Remember anything strange happening?" Samus inquired.

"…Pop!" Kirby said. He ran up to the phazon goop, and inhaled. The goo flowed into his mouth like molasses being fast-forwarded. Kirby's body started glowing blue, and when he had absorbed half of the phazon, his body started turning blue too. Jagged glowing crystals started protruding from his head, forming into what looked like blue quartz. It crackled with blue electricity, like his Plasma ability on steroids.

Kirby stared at his glowing body, then looked at his head on the reflective floor.

"…Poyo."

"I know it feels weird, Kirby." Samus said. "That's what raw power feels like. Don't misuse it like I did."

"Does that mean you'll be joining us, at least for the moment?" Matt asked. "And, I'm sorry about the nose…"

"Don't worry about that, it was bound to happen sooner or later." Samus said. "I think I've calmed down enough for the moment, but when I feel strong enough, I've got some friends to give to. Yes, we're on the same team again. I just needed…"

"Friendship? Just to know somebody cared?" Paul asked.

"…Yes…" Samus said.

"I'm going to save my brother." Luigi said. "I can only imagine what he's been through, being turned into a disgusting rabbit with eye problems, and being eaten by…Radjun, whatever it is."

"Poyo!"

"I'll help you rescue him, even though five minutes ago I was about to turn him in for false salvation." Samus said.

"I gotta help!" Yoshi said. "Mario's my pal, and I feel responsible for him!"

"…Eh…Count me in." Bowser said, reluctantly. "Heh, hard to drop some of the old feelings, now that I think about it. Some friend I am, huh?"

"Pichu! Pi pi chu!"

"Helping people in need is something I'm always ready to do, no matter the cost." Paul said.

"Sammy's happy now!" Roy cheered. "Yay!"

"I'm not Mario, I know, but I'd still feel awful without him around." Dr. Mario said.

"Me and Mario go way back." Link said. "I'm not going to lose him now!"

"Same goes for me." Fox said. "All for one, one for all!"

"All go in, or none come out!" Luigi said. "GERONIMO!"

He leapt down the hole where the altar used to be, into a dark, dank, slimy brick pipe that pierced down into the bottomless black below. Luigi could hear everybody else grunt as they jumped in. Some of them enjoyed the fall, but a few screamed.

"….AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Luigi screamed suddenly.

They fell faster and faster, until they were going so fast the air stung him like tons of needles.

"WIND BURN!" He heard Roy scream above, followed by crazy whooping and shouting.

Then, he shot out of the bottom of the pipe, right into a room that was HUGE, to the sides.

It was only one story high, though. The cave was just a horizontal cheese slice of a cave, way underground, but how far it expanded, Luigi didn't know, didn't WANT to know.

He now knew he wanted very much to be on the Gummi ship, in his small little room, eating lasagna.

"…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He looked down on the crunchy ground he landed on, and almost fainted when he saw he was stepping on bones. Human bones.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH!

Everybody landed on the ground, squishing Roy who was at the bottom of the pile already. It was like listening a bunch of bullets thud into a tree trunk.

"He he…THAT WAS FUN!" Roy said.

"SHH!!!" Everybody hissed.

"Oopsie." Roy giggled.

"Is that…"Paul started asking, his paleness already glowing like a beacon in the darkness.

"Yes, those are human bones, Paul." Matt said.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"SHUUUUUUUUUUT UUUUUUUUUUP!!!" Bowser roared, grabbing him in headlock and clamping a huge hand over his face.

"Reverse claustrophobia!" Luigi screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"Why am I stuck with all of the idiots?" Ness moaned.

Everybody fell silent when they heard a faint clicking noise.

"What was that?" Fox whispered, his ear twitching with apprehension.

"Shh." Link whispered back, holding out his hand for silence.

Click.

"I think that's Radjun." Matt said. "I think it knows it has visitors."

"Wow, I'm so startled. I wonder why." Dr. Mario replied sarcastically.

Luigi opened his mouth to scream again, but Bowser swiftly nabbed him and kept him quiet.

Click.

"That was from over there." Samus said. "I'm using my echo visor."

_Dang it_. Luigi thought_. We're all as blind as bats, except for Samus. How can we hope to win?_

_"..What is it?" _Matt whispered.

"Dr. Mario, you better get your antidotes out." Samus warned.

"What is it?"

"It's a giant spider. And it has very very potent poison in its fangs."

"F-F-Fangs?" Luigi asked weakly.

"Shh!" Matt hissed.

"Oh no." Samus said. "It spotted us."

The cave echoed with rapid, angry clicks, and loud thumping noises. Presumably, those were its legs hitting the ground.

It suddenly burst into view, scaring everybody crapless.

It towered way above them, the size of a fully grown Dodongo. Its body was shiny black, and mottled with sickly bright purple spots. In nature, bright colors usually meant something, and this time it was no exception.

Only, the spider's eyes. They were not normal. The eyes were purple, with laser blue pupils. They lit up like fire, flickering like fire.

They eyes were focused on the smashers, and there were more than enough to focus at least two eyes on each fighter.

"Holy crap." Matt said, realization dawning on him. "That thing's one of those black creatures!"

"WHAT!?!?" Everybody but Bowser, Samus, Dr. Mario, and Roy yelled.

"Huh?" the doc asked. "What's this all about?"

"Get outta here! Now!" Matt yelled. "That thing's a demon!"

"Then you need our help." Samus said.

"You don't get it!" Link said. "These things corrupt anybody stained by their blood! Except…"

"Wait, you mean to tell us these things can turn us into demons if we defeat them?" Dr. Mario asked, stunned.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

"Yeah, except for us smashers, but the only reason is because of our holy weapons." Luigi said. "Just go! We can handle this."

"Just hearing about it is making my blood go cold." Bowser shuddered.

"You ARE cold blooded!" Samus said.

"Am not!"

"My scanner says so."

"That's because some prejudiced dipwad wrote that entry!" Bowser whined.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

"GO!!!" Fox said, pulling out his staff.

Bowser, Samus, Dr. Mario, and Roy turned away hesitantly, then ran off a few dozen yards, far enough to be safe but not far enough to get lost.

The gigantic spider roared again, shaking tons of dust down from the ceiling and spraying everything with acidic spittle. It finished roaring and quit standing on its hind legs, and when it landed everybody temporarily lost their balance as a slight tremor rocked the ground.

With surprising swiftness, it charged forwards, legs clicking against the stone floor. Everybody dived out of the way as it rushed past. It quickly skittered around and faced them again, and raised four of its legs into the air while walking towards them with the other four. It stabbed at the smashers rhythmically, but without any specific pattern, using its legs as gigantic lances.

"My GOSH!" Luigi moaned. "This thing's smart! SMART BUGS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Shut it!" Matt gasped as he, Link, Paul, and Fox fought off the spider. It backed up and pushed forwards, making it impossible for them to get any advantage at all.

The spider's legs were at least ten feet long, all the way from the lower joint to the tip. It could extend them at least twenty feel without losing its balance.

Paul felt his nerve depleting as he hacked away at the iron hard legs that shot past him, threatening to disembowel him. It was seriously dark in the cave, and honestly, he still didn't like the dark.

Sparks flew from everywhere as weapons clanged against unnaturally hard insect skin, but they barely did anything more than scratch it. The demon was playing with them, wearing them down, just waiting for when it could grab them up one by one, and eat their warm flesh…

THUNK!

ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!

The spider screeched in pain as a hammer slammed against one of its eyes. The eye was knocked off its head, where it fell to the ground and popped.

As disgusting as it was, there was a chance the spider would have a harder time fighting them if it was blind. Matt, Fox, Link, and Paul continued holding the furious demon off, while Ness, Luigi, Pichu, Kirby, and Yoshi fired projectiles.

The demon closed its eyes and backed off a little, then charged forwards again. Everybody dived out of the way a second time, and rushed it as it turned around.

"Ness! Use PK Flash!" Paul urged.

"Ok! Here goes! PK…..FLASH!"

Enormously bright green sparks appeared, and flashed like strobe lights, creating so much light everybody snapped their eyes shut to avoid being blinded. The spider screeched in agony as its sensitive eyes were strobed to death, and it skittered backwards, away from the fight. It hissed and spit out a blob of goo, which hit Link's leg and glued him to the ground.

"IT BURNS!!! GET IT OFF!" Link screamed, sounding like he was being boiled in oil. Matt ran over and pulled him out of the saliva, and started hauling him off to Dr. Mario.

"It's blinded, but it's still dangerous!" Matt warned. "Hunt it down and finish it!" Then he ran off, helping Link limp along.

The remaining seven smashers charged after the spider in the darkness. After twenty seconds of hard running, they caught up to it. It rushed on like a train, pushing and rumbling across the ground. It sensed them, and fired a rope like thread from its spinneret. The smashers sidestepped it as neatly as they could, but it was a very close shot. Pichu shot it with a surge of lightning that traveled up the rope, right into the spider's rear. It excreted a large puddle of web in surprise, and the mouse pokemon blundered right into it.

"PICHUUUUUUU!!!" She squealed in fear. Kirby stopped to inhale her away from the goop, but when he did, she was sucked in, and his mouth was glued shut by the goo. Kirby screamed in a muffled voice: obviously, the webs tasted AWFUL! And now Pichu was stuck inside him.

The spider shot balls of goo easily the size of cannon balls, but the smashers pursued it relentlessly, peppering it with lightning, fire, eggs, anything that could be shot.

The spider whirled around again, and stabbed at them with its legs. It reacted so quickly, it managed to nick Fox on the shoulder, and Paul on his arm.

"Ouch!" Fox gasped. "It feels like a giant needle!"

"I think it's legs are poisonous, too..." Paul moaned. Pain slowly spread from his and Fox's wounds, slowing them down noticeably.

Luigi jumped in to help, wielding his hammer. He landed heavy blows on the spider's legs, something it didn't like. He dodged one of its legs by ducking under it, then he ran sideways and avoided the next three stabs. He jumped on the next leg and ran up it, way into the air, then he pounded the spider's leg joint with all of his might. It screeched and tossed him off, but the spider couldn't move the leg anymore. Luigi broke it!

"We're back!" Matt said. He and Link ran up, Matt the same as before by Link's lower left pant leg was torn away, and wrapped up. His skin was inflamed, and looked very irritated.

"The spider's spit is acidic." Matt confirmed. "Dr. Mario had a hard time treating Link, it's very potent."

"Burns like when Zelda goes crazy with Din's Fire." Link cracked a pained grin.

"The spider poisoned me and Fox." Paul said. "It stabbed us with its legs!"

Matt hopped out of the way of one of the nasty legs, and slashed at it with his sword. "I'll keep that in mind.

"Mortal Draw!" Link cried. He had his sword sheathed, but he ran up to the spider, with his right hand on the hilt. The spider stabbed at him again, but he spun to the side, and drew his sword. He wielded it with both hands, and slammed the sharp end into the spider's leg so hard, the leg snapped off with a crack. It screeched and backed away, but it was too slow. Fox ran up and froze its mouth shut with a blast of ice, which Luigi reinforced with an icy globe from his vacuum. The spider backed away even more, but it was still open to attack. Link fired a light arrow right into one of its eyes, making it screech loud enough to shatter the ice and the frozen flesh around it. Yoshi had a full arsenal of eggs ready, and tossed them at the spider, hurting its eyes with bright and powerful lightning eggs. Kirby ran up and drew his hammer and his scythe, and by putting the scythe in front of the hammer, he used the hammer's strength to hack through another leg.

Slowed disastrously, the spider did what it was able to. It was desperate now, and it exhaled a cloud of toxic gas. Paul blew it away with a wave of pressurized air, and shot a column of light at it across the ground. The light scorched it when it touched it, and even through its mouth was destroyed the spider screeched again. Yoshi jumped up and flutter kicked its eyes, then as he started dropping he lashed it across the eyes with his whippy tail. He squatted on the ground when he landed, avoiding a leg that swung through the air hard enough to decapitate him. He tossed a special exploding egg after the leg, then ran at the spider's underbelly and head butted it. It lowered its body to smash him, and he rolled out from under it and right back into its face.

RIGHT UPWARDS KICK!

Yoshi spun into the air from the force of the attack, and spun like a windmill.

HORIZONTAL AXE KICK!

He was now spinning towards the spider's face.

FRONT WARDS SOMERSAULT HEADBUTT!

His head smashed into the spider's face like a giant mallet, causing it to recoil in pain. He whirled around in the air and lifted his tail, then sprayed eggs all over its face. Crackling explosions exploded all over its head, numbing the spider's body with pain.

Yoshi landed on the ground, then kicked off mightily. He soared into the air above its head while flipping backwards gracefully, then he cannonball, and fell towards the spider's head at great velocity.

He cracked the spider's head like an axe, and the spider's eyes rolled about wildly before slowing and growing misty with death. The spider's body lay still, then, it instantly melted into black goo laced with purple spots.

"YOSHI! GET AWAY!" Matt screamed.

Too late.

Yoshi fell to the ground, opened his mouth once, and gave a long, high scream. The black blood flowed over him and quickly smoked him out, covering him in a cocoon of darkness. Matt and the rest of the smashers ran forwards in an attempt to free Yoshi, but when they got there, it was hopeless. They watched as the goo flowed away into the ground, and left behind Yoshi's ice cold, nearly dead body.

"Hang in there, Yoshi!" Link cried.

Yoshi's eyes shot open, he opened his mouth, and screamed. His nerves were on fire. He thrashed, fighting off the darkness, but it just hovered back a little, stayed, then attacked again. He felt himself smothering, swimming, in darkness. His eyes went sightless, his tongue went dry, his body broke out in a cold sweat. He was drowning, drowning in the darkness. He felt all his senses failing, becoming numb to everything.

Darkness consumed him.

Yoshi's body finally calmed down, and lay still, but Dr. Mario could offer everybody only one solace.

"He still has a pulse." Dr. Mario said. "But if we don't do something for him now, he'll die."

"What about Mario?" Luigi asked, hollowly.

"…It's him, or Yoshi…" Matt said.

"…" Luigi only stared, not really seeing.

Mario. Gone.

"Mamma mia!"

Luigi whirled around, and right there, hanging on a stalactite hanging from the ceiling, was Mario in a big web.

"Mamma mia!"

"He must have been unconscious from some venom, I guess." Matt concluded.

"Mamma MIA!" Mario said.

"Thank GOODNESS!" Luigi yelled.

"We better get going." Samus said. "Mario will be ok…I THINK…But we better help Yoshi."

Kirby and Link had Mario down by now, but he was still wrapped in a blanket of webs.

"Mamma mia…" Mario moaned, both in relief, and also because of a headache.

"Tell me about it, bro." Luigi sighed. "What a day…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Forgive me for the crappy ending, but here's the LONGEST chapter in this story, so far. 7400 words, and 22 microsoft word pages. It's at the average length of some of the later chapters in Supremacy, like the last ten or so.**

**I hope this was a good chapter, but I have a feeling I really failed to please a few of you…Yeah, I probably could have done better in some parts, and done a few things to make the plot more interesting, but please, forgive me if this chapter didn't please ya that much.**

**The smashers defeated Radjun, but what exactly was it? Why was it there? What exactly are these demons, and what are they here to accomplish?**

**Why is Mario still a freaky, freaky bunny!?!?!**

**Yeah, I'll get around to answering those questions. Eventually.**

**Thank all of you for reading! I'll see ya next time, so take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and PLEASE Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	32. Secrets of the Darkness

**I have something rather big planned for the Hyrule arc, but it will be so big, I'm just going to save THAT for a later arc.**

**Sorry I haven't been back for a few days. School caught up with me, AGAIN, and I had to beat it back with my homerun bat…again…**

**Obviously, I am back for yet another chappy! I just got The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, and that ate up my whole weekend. :D**

**And then comes Monday! I looked at the update on SSB Dojo, and FREAKING WOWSERS! Stage editor!?!? And you can even send your stages to your friends! And then you can even submit them to Nintendo! Look at the website for more information, but I know I'm going to be playing this whale of a game for years to come!**

**I've already drawn up a few battle levels I'm going to build when I get the game, and they're gonna be SO MUCH FUN! Especially if you like battling in a Mad House where there's only three ways to be KO'd, a Pirate Ship, or even atop a skyscraper and some helicopters! I went crazy with my pictures, but I'll gladly send the levels to anybody interested when I do get the game. I want everybody to enjoy my insanity! MUA HA HA HA!**

**Anyways, speaking of insanity, wait till you read this chapter. Before anybody goes off grumbling, I want to inform you, Samus' plight is not yet over, neither is everybody else's problems! And another thing, how is Yoshi doing?**

**You, my reading friends, get to find out…**

…DUN Dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"…Ugh…"

"He's coming to!" Dr. Mario sighed with relief.

Yoshi's eyes burned at the bright light, but then he felt a disgusting heave in his stomach.

SPLASH!

"Eww!" Ness said.

"You're still recovering, but you're over the worst of it." Dr. Mario informed the dino, looking grave.

"..Whuh-where am I" Yoshi asked.

"Back on the Gummi ship." Dr. Mario said. "I'm the official ship doctor now."

"He he! Ausome, isn't it?" Roy giggled stupidly.

"Yeah, and peanuts can talk." Ness said mockingly.

"They can! MORE AWESOME!!!" Roy squealed in excitement.

"What a BOOB." Ness whispered to Dr. Mario. "He can't even understand sarcasm!"

"Patience is virtue." Dr. Mario whispered back, even though his left eye had a violent tick. "Yoshi, remember you defeated the spider demon?"

"Yes, what of it?" Yoshi asked.

"…I'm really not the person to tell you that." Dr. Mario said after a pause. "It would be better for you to hear from the eight that rescued you."

"You mean Link, Fox, Matt, Kirby, Luigi, Pichu, Ness, and Paul?" Yoshi asked.

"Yes."

"…Am I well enough to go and see them now?" Yoshi asked hopefully.

"You're in perfectly good shape, health wise, but you should hear about your condition for yourself.

"Condition!?!? What condition!?!? I thought you said I wasn't sick! Do I have cancer or something!?!?"

"Don't be silly, please." Dr. Mario smiled. "Seriously, though, you're fine…"

"You don't sound so sure of that." Yoshi observed in apprehension.

"…I don't think you would be sure either." Dr. Mario said. "Go on, find out for yourself."

"See ya later, Yosh!" Roy cackled. "I gotta find some Peanuts and talk to em. Ta!"

Ness looked at Yoshi and shrugged helplessly. "Come on, Yoshi. Follow me."

Yoshi did what he had to, and followed Ness. The curiosity of his 'condition' ate away at him, making him want to know all the more.

He followed Ness through the ship. They exited the small room that made up the infirmary and into the tight central hallway that granted access to all the rooms in the lower deck. Near the back of the ship was a metal staircase that dropped into the cargo hold where warpstars were stored, along with some other equipment. They ascended the staircase to the second level, which was smaller that the floor below. There was a small closet where Ness set up his laptop and did research there, and was also used as a library. Another closet across from it stored weapons they collected from their outings, and yet another closet held Matt's prized junk, junk that he claimed he had plans for.

The last room in the hallway entered the bunk room, which was very tight and cramped, but miraculously had enough room to accommodate the smashers aboard the ship.

Ness led Yoshi to the staircase at the other end of the hallway, which spiraled up to the cockpit. The walkway was pressed up against the ceiling, forcing everybody to army crawl across a space not much bigger than a shelf. When they crawled far enough, about two yards, Ness pushed up on a tile in the ceiling and revealed a hatch that led into the cockpit. Ness and Yoshi popped up inside the domed room, behind the row of seats in the back.

"We're going to have to get another seat put up here." Matt grinned at the newcomers.

"What for?" Yoshi asked.

"Because, you're an official crew member now." Paul said.

"Hey, Matt!" Link said. "I thought it was supposed to be your job to rework the seats!"

"I stand corrected." Matt said.

"Hey, what's wrong with me?" Yoshi blurted out suddenly. "I was putting the pressure on Dr. Mario, but he INSISTED that I ask you guys about it."

"…Yoshi, you may not welcome the news we have for you." Fox warned.

"But I should still know about this, right?" Yoshi asked.

"Yes, I think it prudent that everybody involved know exactly what's going on." Luigi said.

"You already know that the Super Smash Brothers are at war with GUN, right?" Matt asked. "And the New World Government as well?"

"I know smidgens of it here and there." Yoshi asked. "I know the general picture."

"Do you know why we're at war?" Link asked.

"Uh…No."

"Neither do we."

"But we're trying to find out." Matt said. "But there's something else, as well."

"What is that?"

"Try to remember what happened after you battled the spider, Yoshi." Fox urged.

"Uh…I remember killing it, but then I felt my boy go completely cold. It felt as if…I was frozen and drowning in darkness."

"In fact, you WERE drowning in darkness." Matt said. "We all have."

"What does THAT have to do with anything!?!?" Yoshi asked.

"Maybe you'll understand this, then." Link said. "You're cursed."

"CURSED!!?!?!?" Yoshi screeched.

"Yes, Cursed." Matt affirmed. "We are no longer pure heroes of light, but we're stained by darkness that eats at us from the inside. It's a handicap, it prevents us from reaching our full potential, makes us susceptible to it, and it weakens us. We're cripples."

"That sounds lovely." Yoshi murmured morosely.

"However, there is one way it helps us. We can use this darkness to increase our power, but only when we use it. Until we use the darkness, we gradually weaken until we succumb to the darkness. If we ever succumb to the darkness a second time, the stain may consume us, and after that, there is no turning back."

"So, I have dark powers now?" Yoshi asked.

"You have to, but what kind of powers, we're unsure." Matt said thoughtfully. "Still, there's something interesting about your case, something that intrigues me, and everybody else."

"What this time?" Yoshi moaned.

"We were stained by rather average demons, but YOU, Yoshi, were stained by something we're going to refer to as an Elemental Guardian for now." Matt said. "The spider demon we battled and you defeated, it possessed abilities unique to demons. Remember it used very poisonous attacks?"

"…I think I see where you're going with this." Yoshi said, eyes widening.

"We think you inherited some of its powers, but the extent of the dark symbiosis of the powers remains to be seen."

"Will I be ok?" Yoshi asked fearfully.

"We'll watch out for you." Luigi said. "Like we watch out for each other now."

"There's still one more thing." Matt said.

"Am I gonna die!?!?" Yoshi squealed frightfully.

"You're perfectly fine."

"But-"

"But who said you were unchanged?" Matt said.

"I demand that I see myself!" Yoshi shouted.

Matt complied, and pulled out a hand mirror, a pink one with flowers engraved in the pink metal.

"That's Peach's mirror!" Yoshi said.

"It's supposed to have a twin." Matt said. "Peach said she didn't mind parting with it, but it also has the power to show the person at the other end, like an instant message…thingy."

Yoshi snatched the mirror from Matt's hand, and looked at his face. Everything about him was normal, except…

"ARGH! What the is this!?!?" Yoshi screeched. His paws scrabbled across his snout as he tried scratching it off, but on his nose there was a patch of discolored skin. The spot was about the size of half an apple, and was colored a very venomous purple. The purple splotch was so bright, it almost seemed to glow, but there were no irregular bumps or boils on it. In fact, it was perfectly fine, except for the discoloration.

"One side-effect Dr. Mario discovered, is that your saliva contains traces of various toxins, all of which are fatal." Matt said. "You could easily spit on any of us now and kill us."

Yoshi clamped his paws over his mouth.

"Don't worry!" Matt laughed. "Dr. Mario injected us with deactivated toxins so our bodies could develop immunities to them, so you could lick me on the face right now if you want, and I'd live."

Yoshi released his mouth, and sighed with relief.

"…Before I forget, how's Mario?" Yoshi asked.

"He's fine, but he's still a rabbid." Matt grimaced. "Peach flipped out."

"Understatement of the millennium!" Fox said.

"She's over it now, but like us she's still disturbed over it." Luigi said. "She's pretty strong with her emotions and mental power."

"Right now, Peach is at the castle with Mario, making preparations to find a better hiding place. Merlon from Toad Town is helping her find a cure for Mario." Link said.

"Where's Bowser?" Yoshi asked.

"He's in the cargo hold." Luigi said. "He can't possibly squeak up here with us, he's so big. But, knowing him, he couldn't say no to the excitement of battling for his life every single day."

"And Samus?"

Fox grinned and pointed out of the ship, top the right. Yoshi followed his finger, and spotted Samus's ship drifting along next to them.

"Like she said, she's willing to hang with us for a bit longer, but she has her own agenda planned." Matt said.

"Our mini army is still growing." Luigi said. "But I think we can all agree that we need a base of operations."

"We do?" Yoshi asked.

"We're planning to liberate the Smash dimension, but we lack the strength and resources." Matt explained. "Before we even do that, we have to rescue more of our fellows, and then gather supplies for rebuilding."

"How will we do that?"

"We'll have to build a laser, and store the stuff as data inside the ship's computer." Matt said. "We're far from that, though."

"We COULD use your help with something." Link said. "We're still debating where to go next, but we need more time to decide."

"I see." Yoshi said.

"I managed to construct a better laser for the hologram, so we can have hologram battles now." Matt said. "We'll be able to vent our darkness, keep our training up to scratch, and maybe even discover some of our powers!"

"The plan is, we're going to take turns battling." Paul said. "If we're lucky we'll learn how to use our powers and weaknesses to our advantage, and get used to our curse. After all, we have to understand our powers until we're able to be rid of them."

"But don't get too comfy with it." Matt warned. "It could corrupt you, and turn you into a demon."

"I'll keep that in mind." Yoshi squeaked weakly.

"Poyo!" Kirby said in an attempt to cheer up his gluttonous pal.

"Thank you, Kirby." Yoshi sighed with relief.

"Anyways, if I tweak the laser a little bit I'll be able to release Crazy." Matt said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back against the glass dome. "You hear that, Crazy?"

"YESPH!" Crazy spluttered, then flopped across the computer screen spewing gibberish everywhere.

"You realize, Crazy, you act a lot like a computer virus." Fox growled as the stupid made up words cluttered the screen and jammed the RAM memory. "I wonder what the virus cleanup program will do…"

Fox rapped a few buttons, and everybody exploded into laughter as Crazy screamed like a girl and fled from pictures shaped like evil machines. He zoomed around through the icons on the touch screen, flew about in the background, and finally took cover in an empty folder.

"That'll make him behave." Fox said in a satisfied tone as he turned off the anti-virus program. "But that still leaves the big question unanswered. Where to next?"

"From some of the data I hacked from the base in the Mushroom Kingdom-"

"Wait, you hacked into the base? While we were there?" Luigi asked curiously.

"One can hack into remote computers with the right stuff…" Matt said, looking everywhere but at his partners. "…Hey, I can do stuff in the ship, ya know! Anyways, I gathered that there are other excavation sites, but I didn't have enough time to crack the codes to obtain locations. The computer I hacked into discovered that I wasn't a normal user, and barred access from our computer."

"So you're saying GUN has smart enough computers to block even an expert hacker?" Paul asked.

"Apparently."

"What's a computer?" Link asked.

"That." Matt replied, pointing at the hologram machine.

"Oh, I knew that." Link grinned.

"What are our options, do you think?" Ness asked. "We should probably continue looking for and rescuing our friends."

"Onett, Dreamland, Hyrule…" Fox ticked off on his fingers.

"We should wait on Hyrule." Matt said. "Hyrule's a big country, and we'll have a hard time finding anything there. GUN is almost certainly doing something there, and we need to be a little bit more sure of ourselves before we go."

"Then, there's Onett, Dreamland, Angel Land, Seth's world, Traverse Town, Radiant Garden, The Orre region, Rougeport, Pherae, Magvell, Tellius, Infinite Glacier, Shadow Moses Island, The Lylat system, and Sylvarant."

"Of course there's other places, but it's safe to say we should visit these places first." Ness said.

"We're pretty close to Rougeport." Paul said. "D'ya think we should go there?"

"So many places, so little time…" Fox sighed.

"Hmm…What do you guys think?" Matt asked. "I'm neutral at this point."

"I've been to Rougeport before." Luigi said. "Rather…colorful place, but it's not like I spent very long there. Mario's the man to ask, if we're going to go to Rougeport."

"Angel land!" Ness said suddenly.

"What about it?" Fox asked.

"Doy POYO?" Kirby asked. (Yeah, what about it?)

"I know where Cloud and Meta Knight are!" Ness exclaimed. "They're in Angel Land!"

"They ARE?" Matt asked.

"It was so hard to see, but I remember the golden clouds in Angel Land." Ness said. "There were golden clouds above their heads in the vision. We have to go rescue them!"

"Ok, then, Fox! Set coordinates for Angel Land." Matt said. He walked over to his seat and strapped himself in, as did everybody else. Then, Matt grabbed the microphone for the ship's intercom.

"All passengers, please take your seats now, and strap in tight. We are en route to Angel Land, currently, and expect it to be a peaceful trip. However, caution is always necessary. Thank you."

"Dooood." Crazy whistled. "I didn't know it was possible for somebody to use the intercom NICELY!!! Aweshome!"

"You can't have heard many people other than your brother using it, then." Link grinned.

"Nope-de-dopey!" Crazy agreed. "Anywhodunnit, I gotta get us to ANGEL LAND! Hold on tight, it's a LoooOOOOoooOOOOng Ride!"

Everybody was pressed into their seats as the ship accelerated wildly, and faint yells could be heard from the cargo hold.

"Crud." Matt groaned. "I forgot…There are no seats or intercom speakers in the hold!"

Kirby's eyes widened as he pictured Bowser getting clobbered by tons of warpstars, Matt's junk, and more importantly…

"PYOOOD!" Kirby screamed. He jumped up from his seat and scrambled down the hatch, ranting about who knows what.

"Anyways, Yoshi, would you like a round or two inside the hologram machine?" Link asked. "Against me?"

"…As much as I hate being cursed, I wanna find out what I can do!" Yoshi said, in a strange tone crossed between excitement and hesitation.

Link beamed like the sun. "You're ON!"

"Booting up the hologram machine." Matt called out. He pressed a button on the ship's dashboard, and a keyboard type of device hummed as it extended. Matt pressed a few keys, and a small laser rose from the hub in the center of the cockpit. It waved a blue light across Link's body.

"Scanning, and preparing to break body down into photons." Matt said. When the laser finished making the scan on Link's body, it scanned Yoshi.

"The laser we have isn't nearly as advanced as the one at the mansion, which can instantly break us down into photons." Matt explained as the laser vanished inside of the hatch it came from, and then a bigger laser popped out. "However, this laser should work more quickly for you two after this, since it will already have your data. Now, hold still, and don't move."

The laser fired a wider blue laser this time, and Link's body vanished in a flash of blue light. It then zapped Yoshi, who squealed in dismay the second before it hit.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The two smashers woke up on the Battlefield stage, an average sized arena paved with a straight path. It was a floating island in the sky, above a very verdant and lively forest. The sky was as clear as crystal, with a few fluffy clouds reminiscent of marshmallows drifting in the sky.

"When did we get THIS stage!?!" Fox's voice echoed around them in shock.

"Master Hand seemed to be in the process of completing it, before the attack." Matt's voice said. "I found the data, and all of his calculations, and went ahead and finished the stage. I love it."

"It's really awesome looking, compared to the others I've seen!" Paul's voice said.

"Heh, before we get carried away, Link, and Yoshi, you each have two stocks, I've enabled the computer to input all your skills, so there are no handicaps! That means, if either of you are lucky enough, you might be able to activate your dark form, or maybe a few of your dark powers."

"Right!" Link said. He drew his sword and faced Yoshi, who suddenly felt a touch of intimidation. Here was somebody who had, by far, had more battle experience than he.

"Ready…" Matt said. "Get Set…GO!"

Link dashed forwards, and Yoshi returned the motion, charging like a bull.

Link swung the Master Sword horizontally, and Yoshi rolled under it and along with the swing. He kicked at Link's wrist to disarm him, but the hylian knight moved his sword up into the air in a figure eight pattern and brought it back down on Yoshi's belly. The dino rolled out of the way again and jumped up behind Link and kicked at him. Link rolled forwards and stood up, and tossed his boomerang with lethal accuracy. It landed on Yoshi's skull with a loud crack, and Yoshi toppled backwards in pain. Link jumped into the air and caught the boomerang as it returned, and charged up his jump attack.

Yoshi rolled backwards and leapt into the air like a flea, just before Link crushed him. Yoshi bombed the arena with a storm of eggs, which Link protected against with his shield. It quickly conducted heat from the fire eggs, and when a lightning egg burst on the shield, Link was shockingly surprised.

"Boing-HEEEEEEEEH!" Yoshi cried. He plummeted right above Link, who jumped up and out of the way. Yoshi hit the ground hard and sent out two stars, which Link knocked back with his shield. Yoshi ate the stars and laid two eggs, and tossed them back at the retreating figure of Link.

The two Star eggs hovered and floated right towards Link, and he turned to get a face full of starry pain. The explosion sent him flying off the stage, and near the KO boundary.

He pulled out his trusty clawshots and grabbed the edge of the stage with one, and swung under at high speed. He un-latched the claw as he came up from under the stage on the other side, and flipped to give himself a boost of speed. He soared into the air while curled up, and then he fired his other clawshot right at Yoshi.

The claw grabbed the dino and reeled him in super quick.

BAM! SHING!

Link slashed Yoshi with incredible power, first horizontally and down to the left, then he spun around and slammed the sword into Yoshi in a spin attack.

Yoshi squealed in pain as he flew, and passed the boundary of the stage with a BANG!

He reappeared on a rebirth platform, and quickly got the drop on Link. Yoshi smashed Link against the floor, between his bottom, and the ground, and planted a huge egg on his head. Fire and lightning blasted Link's head and inflicted about twenty damage points, then Yoshi short hopped upwards and slammed the knight with his sword. Link gasped as he flew upwards, and watched Yoshi spring into the air after him.

Yoshi flutter kicked him, clobbering him with his thick red shoes. A final tail whip sent him flying into the ground. At the last millisecond, Link caught himself and used the momentum to roll, saving himself a nasty pratfall. He whisked his boomerang out again, which Yoshi caught with his tongue and swung around. He spit some fiery spit on the boomerang and tossed it back at Link, who knocked it away with his shield. He nocked a bomb arrow on his bow and shot it back at Yoshi, who wave dashed in mid-air. He landed safely and charged at Link again, who fumbled for his sword.

Yoshi rammed him in the chest with his head at top speed, and sent the already highly damaged Link flying off the stage, with his wind knocked out.

Soon, Link was double-knocked out by passing the boundary, and it was his turn to reappear on the rebirth platform.

Link barely touched down on the ground, when Yoshi laid another egg, a sickly green one, and tossed it in Link's face.

It exploded, and released the foulest gas Link had ever smelled. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell to the ground, gasping like a fish and writhing in pain at the stench of the Fart egg as his eyes ram.

"Cheap shot!" Link gagged.

Yoshi smirked. At least he knew one of his new weapons worked well! He charged Link again to headbutt his chest again, but Link deftly rolled over flat and tripped the hasty Yoshi. Yoshi flew into the air, and Link fired a storm of arrows after him. Yoshi took a few hits, none of them serious, and flutter kicked back over to the stage. He tossed an egg to get Link away from the edge, and Yoshi landed safely.

Link slashed at him as he landed, and Yoshi ducked under the swing, and kicked Link in the chest twice to knock him away. He tossed an egg after the flying hylian, and barely noticed the annoying itch on his snout.

Link flipped and landed on his feet, and tossed out three bombs to obstruct Yoshi's path. Yoshi got blown up by the bombs, and Link pursued with an aerial spin attack. Link struck a few light blows, then knocked Yoshi away with another powerful swing.

Yoshi righted himself in midair, just as Link's claw came at him to snag him and reel him in. Yoshi charged up some lightning in his mouth, and spun out of the way of the claw as it zoomed past. He stuck out his tongue and touched it, zapping Link at the other end. Yoshi clung to the hookshot on its way back, and rocket kicked Link in the chest. Link flew back, and landed just at the edge of the stage. He fiddled with his tools, and took out his boomerang again. He tossed it at Yoshi as he drew a bomb, and Yoshi jumped the boomerang, Link tossed his bomb at it, which stuck to it as it came back. Link jumped over the boomerang as well. It went way behind him, and spiraled back as the bomb started flashing red. It was so fast, Link barely had time to get out of the way, and Yoshi even less still.

The boomerang smashed him in the face and exploded, sending Yoshi flying back in flames.

Then he REALLY started to notice the annoying itch on his snout. He barely grabbed the edge as he fell, and looked at his snout. The purple spot was one big bump, and it itched like CRAZY! He scratched at it, and it started oozing. Yoshi moaned in annoyance, and sneezed. A big glob of venom flew from his mouth, and smacked into Link's face. He screamed in agony as the acidic poison burned his face and hands. It felt like white fire, and after that, Link's face quickly went numb and started swelling up. His whole body went numb, and he was completely paralyzed.

Yoshi looked at what he had done, and was horror struck. It was still a hologram, but it was still too horrible.

Link looked at Yoshi pleadingly. His face clearly said: End the fight.

Yoshi wound up, and swung his tail like a mighty club.

THWACK!

Link took the hit full force, and soared off the stage before exploding.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The laser fired inside the cockpit, and in a flash both Link and Yoshi were deposited in their seats. Yoshi was horrified, and seconds away from sobbing to death from fright, and Link was very ashen. Everybody else was silent as well.

"I…I-I could kill somebody!" Yoshi wailed, finally breaking down. "I'm dangerous! I can't control it! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"It'll…be…Ok…" Link tried smiling, but he was still weak, and very shaken.

"No it won't!!!" Yoshi screeched. "I'm super dangerous! Lock me up and never let me hurt anybody again!"

"Yoshi, we'll do everything we can to help." Matt said.

"You can't help me…I'm cursed…" Yoshi moaned, sniffling behind his hands.

"Darn it, Yoshi! We're not going to let things stay this way!" Luigi said. "We learned what we needed to, but for good measure, we should see Dr. Mario again."

"….Sniff" Yoshi sat there, quietly, not trusting his voice.

"We PROMISE to help out." Matt said. "You didn't mean it, it was an accident, so don't worry about it. Be glad it happened in a fake hologram, instead of the real world."

"…O-ok." Yoshi mumbled, still tearful.

"Seriously, Yoshi, it's fine." Link said. "I'll live."

Yoshi nodded, and sighed.

"…Well, back to Dr. Mario, then?" Ness asked.

"I guess you could bring Yoshi there, if you don't mind." Fox said.

"Yeah…I don't wanna hurt anybody again." Yoshi said. "I need to find out how to prevent this from happening again."

"C'mon, Yoshi. Let's go." Ness said. He hopped down from his seat, and the cockpit was quiet as the two descended the hatch. It snapped shut with a clang.

"…Whoa." Paul said. "…I've never seen a poison THAT strong, before. Horrible."

"That spider demon was disgustingly evil." Link mumbled. "I'm lucky it didn't spit on me then, or I'd be dead now…"

"We'll have to be much more cautious, from now on. Of our enemies…and especially ourselves…" Matt said.

"Pichu…"

The ship carried the smashers up into the sky, towards the golden clouds of Angel Land. Through the fight, the smasher's dark powers showed how dangerous they could be, and what a hazard they were.

Not everybody could help but feel contaminated as they headed towards what they hopped would be a more peaceful place, where they could be safe…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**And I still haven't revealed Yoshi's dark form. Are there other demons similar to Radjun, the venomous spider demon? How are Cloud and Meta Knight doing, and is anybody else with them…?**

**And what condition is Angel Land in, since the war for supremacy? **

**Find out next time! Thank all of you for reading, and reviewing! See you all next time, and take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Please Review**

**-Shining Riku-**


	33. The City of Angels

**Do not panic, my readers.**

**Let me put it simply: Life finally caught up with me. School, stupid freaking tests, trips to visit relatives, and other stuff.**

**What has been taking up the most of my time, however, is I have been watching a few flash cartoons on the internet, and my desire to create my own internet cartoon series was redoubled. I already wanted to make cartoons, now I REALLY want to make cartoons. I've been surfing the net for character sprites (images of characters ripped from video games) and for game music.**

**If anybody wants to know about the cartoons I've been watching, go to Google, and type in Super Mario Bros Z. This one guy made a few AWESOME parody cartoons of Dragon Ball Z with Mario and Sonic characters, and…**

**IT IS THE MOST AWESOME THING I HAVE EVER SEEN, EVER!**

**So, if you have high speed internet, go ahead and check these cartoons out. They are so very much worth your time, if you are a fan of Mario and Sonic. There are six episodes out, up to date, and the guy's working on his seventh (Hopefully) as we speak. There's already a preview for episode seven, and even though it's short, it makes you starve for more.**

**The man is an expert! Seriously!**

**Anyways, now that I am done explaining my absence, I wish to apologize. If I worried anybody, I certainly did not mean to. Looking at game sprites and stuff oddly drained my desire to write, and school is definitely NOT helping any! (GRRR!) Anyhow…I will definitely get back to writing, sometime soon. I'll TRY to have another chapter out sometime within seven days, but only if I'm in the mood to type. Again, I'm very sorry to have kept all of you waiting.**

**Anyhow, Last chapter was a success! I'm glad everybody liked it so much, but, as I tried to prove, dark powers are dangerous.**

**I tell you now, EXPECT worse things to happen. Many of you may have a hard time remembering this, but in Supremacy, before one of the fallen angels met their demise, they made a promise.**

**What kind of promise, you may ask? That's for you to remember, or else go find. This adventure is far from over: in fact, it's only started.**

**Now, please pay attention to everything, as it could have something to do with the plot later! I don't mean for just THIS chapter, I mean EVERY chapter! I'm trying to make this as enjoyable as I possibly can, and I will someday create an online cartoon series out of this story and Supremacy, as well as the next story, but before I can even get started on it, that'll have to wait until next summer when I'm out of school.**

**You guys will LOVE it! (I sure hope so! U )**

**Anyhow, let's start! I should at least get as far as I can while I don't have anything else to do, right?**

**Ok, let's-a go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Approaching ANGEL LAND!" Crazy screeched out loud over the speaker system.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!" There was a chorus of yelling as everybody jumped up in their bed, and inevitably creamed their heads on either the bed above them, or the ceiling.

"CRAZY!" Matt screamed. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Mweah! I'm inside the computer, and you aren't!" Crazy said tauntingly.

"Oh yeah? You are inside the computer, and I am not! I can delete you!!!" Matt threatened.

"Gulp…I apologize." Crazy said, dearly wanting to live. "We're at Angel Land, but something's really outta the norm up here."

"What do you mean by THAT?" Ness asked.

"Um…You'll have to see that for yourself." Crazy said cryptically.

Ness frowned, and quickly slid out of his bed and walked out of the way as the other smashers dropped from their beds to the ground. He was the first to reach the cockpit, and he gasped and almost forgot how to breathe.

The clouds were a dull navy blue, and the sky above was dark. It was very stormy outside, and a flash of lightning showed livid black clouds above, nearly as bad as the ones below the skies of Arcadia.

"What the Heck!?!?!?" Ness gasped.

"That's what I wanna know." Crazy said. "I never seen Angel Land like this before!"

"Maybe it's just a bout of bad weather." Fox said as he appeared.

"Weather? There is no weather up here but good weather." Ness said. "At least, before now."

"How long has it been like this?" Matt asked Crazy as he leaned towards the glass and looked out.

"Hard to say, but it might have started turning bad a few months ago…"

"That would mean it started going bad after Palutena left." Ness conjectured.

"More like turned into a Nobody." Dr. Mario said.

"Wait, Palutena was turned into a Nobody?" Paul asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah…" Ness said, scratching his head.

"I wonder what happened to her." Paul said.

"She was such a nice angel, too." Dr. Mario said. "I never did have a chance to learn any of their healing arts."

"You just might have a chance now, Doc." Link said. "It's scary up here, though."

"Poyo!!!"

"Lightning is shiny and all, but it's not fiery enough." Roy mumbled.

BOOM!

"WHOOOOOOOA!?!?!???" Everybody yelled as the ship bucked.

"I thought you said this ship was soundproof!!!???" Fox demanded.

"It is!" Crazy insisted. "Something landed on us!"

"WHAT!?!?"

There was a crackle, and the speaker hissed.

"Oops."

"Samus!"

"Yeah, this is 'Sammy'. I misjudged how fast I should land…Although I have to admit the storm isn't helping any."

"Oh…You scared us crapless, there, Samus." Matt sighed. "…Please let us know next time, or I'll have my lawyer sue you if I have a heart attack!"

"What's the point? You wouldn't be able to use the money."

"Touché." Matt said.

"Anyways, the weather is violent, but it's nothing that will keep us from landing, and us from walking around."

"Looks like I lost my excuse…" Luigi mumbled, chewing his fingers in fright and shaking like a leaf in a gale.

"C'mon, Luigi." Ness sighed. "Let's go to the hatch and go."

Luigi complied, but only by pushing his body with every ounce of willpower he possessed. It took him everything he had to keep moving, with no energy left to even talk. Everybody else followed, slightly apprehensive of the danger they faced.

When they stepped into the storage area, they were greeted by a very cranky and gruff Bowser. "Yeah, how ya doing, you great ingrates? Sleeping fine, I expect, while I'm rotting down here and getting mauled by warpstars!?!?!?!?!"

"It's not any better upstairs, if that's what you're wondering." Dr. Mario huffed. "If you can even squeeze upstairs, I dare you to sleep in one of those crappy bunks up there, and see how it feels! I'm going to be taking my own medicine for months after this, just to fix my cramped back!!"

At this, there was a huge crack, and stars flew from Dr. Mario's back. He clutched his wounded back, and grimaced.

"Ah, well." Link said. "We'd best be going, if we're going to find Meta Knight and Cloud today."

"Watch out while we're outside. I'm not in any mood to fall from the sky. In case any of you were wondering, it's a LONG way down!" Paul huffed. "If ANYBODY knocks me off, I'll blast them to smithereens!"

"What's with the anger, all of a sudden?" Fox asked.

Paul jabbed his hand out in front of himself, and held up two fingers. "One: I hate heights. Two: Klutzes will be obliterated. I'm occupied enough as it is, watching my butt around our enemies. I'm stressed out, what with how dangerous things are getting, and I can't stand clumsy mistakes."

"Chill out!" Matt said. "We'll get through this fine. We haven't done anything stupidly hazardous to our health yet."

"…"

"Don't worry so much. You'll blow a fuse before you really need it, and THAT could be bad." Matt persisted.

"…Sigh…Sorry, things have just been getting a little rough. All we've been doing is fight for our lives for days, and we don't even know what we're doing yet!"

"I hear ya." Link said, sincerely. "I've had a bit of that myself, back in ol' Hyrule. Best thing to do, is keep at it, and think as little about it as possible! Unless, of course, if you're looking for something…"

"Looking for trouble comes naturally to us, so that isn't a problem." Ness said.

These words made Luigi go pale.

"I-I'll j-just…s-s-stay here…a-and-"

"No, you ain't stayin anywhere!" Bowser roared. "You're coming with us, like it or not."

"Mamma mia!" Luigi moaned.

Matt rolled his eyes in annoyance, and pressed the button that opened the hatch. The room was instantly flooded with a rush of sound: tons of thunder, and the uncanny sound of rain striking the hull, which sounded almost like a machine gun. Everybody walked out into the storm, raising their arms across their faces to increase their visibility. Bowser came out last, dragging a petrified Luigi out before closing the door.

It was worse looking outside.

The storm above raged like a gigantic battlefield smothered in smoke, with burst of lightning coming down in jagged streaks. The rain stung like millions of little bits of round metal, and were as cold as ice. Except for the light produced by the lightning, it was darker than night up in the sky.

"It's STUPID cold and evil up here!" Ness shouted in pain, struggling to keep his hat from flying away.

"Can't stop now." Dr. Mario said. "Wait for Samus first."

There was a barely audible hissing noise above, and then a black shadow dropped down like a cannonball.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Luigi screamed. He covered his head, and the figure hit the ground nearby. It was only Samus.

"Sheesh, Luigi." Samus said icily "There isn't any need to scream your head off.!"

"You'll have to excuse the plumber." Bowser said, as if Samus did not know who Luigi was. "He's a green chicken."

"Hmph."

"Uh…Let's …Go?" Matt suggested, waving his arm about, as if suggesting something.

The team walked towards the buildings far off across the clouds, which were black. Thankfully they weren't charged with lightning. The angel city was in ruins, having never been built to withstand continuous foul weather. Many pillars of once great temples lay scattered about, worn smooth by the relentless rain. The buildings that lost most of their support lay in piles of stone, never to stand in the sun again.

The coliseum where battles were held just a few moths ago now looked like a gigantic empty bowl, where the rain gathered and flooded it, making it an angel-made lake.

"…That's where I'm going." Dr. Mario said, at last. He pointed to a building roughly four stories high, and rather long. "That's the library. If everybody's alright with it, I'd like to see if there are some books I can salvage."

"Why do you need books?" Samus asked. "We can't waste time looking at BOOKS, of all things, when we're on a rescue mission!"

"…Do I look like a fighter to you?" Dr. Mario asked, suddenly. "What good am I if I'm dead, or, better yet, what good am I if I can't save somebody when they're inches from death?"

"…"

"Have you had that failure before, in your life? When you needed it most, you lacked ONE thing, to complete that one mission, or…save that one life. Have you filed before, Samus?"

"No, and I don't plan to." Samus replied coldly.

Dr. Mario stared at her, long and hard, for a few moments, then turned to walk towards the library.

"If anybody needs me, I'll be reading useless books." He said, walking towards the library. Roy looked at everybody apologetically, then zipped off after him.

_What's going on?_ Link thought sadly. Things weren't like they used to be. _Just like last time, before the big break-up. Fighting between friends._ He sighed, then looked around to find he'd been left behind by the rest of his party, and he took a few seconds to scout out their location before seeing them heading towards the inn. He quickly caught up, to hear Ness talking about their stay at the hotel.

"If anybody's been up here recently, they'd probably leave behind a few clues in here." Ness explained, waving his hand at the decrepit stone building.

"I hope Doc and Roy will b-be fine." Luigi muttered.

"They're tough." Bowser said. "I THINK they'll be ok, but I ain't so sure 'bout Roy."

"Let's get looking then." Fox said, after Ness finished talking. "We ought to hurry."

"Get looking, then." Samus said. "If you're so worried."

_Ok, something is really getting to her._ Link thought.

Fox scowled at her, and busied himself with looking behind the main counter, where there were a few stools sticking out of the ground. There were bottles on the wall above Fox's head, full of colorful liquids.

"It's hard to tell, but some of the dust might be disturbed over here." Fox announced, pointing towards one of the bottles.

"Poyo!" Kirby yelled.

"Huh?"

"POYO!!!" Kirby said, jabbing a stubby arm at the bottles.

"No, you're not old enough Kirby." Matt said.

"POYO!"

"How's about we find ya something else?" Ness suggested.

Kirby put on a pouty face, and grumbled.

"You are not starving, as much as you would like to claim so." Matt said sternly. "There's still some food left on the sh-"

"Obviously you haven't seen the latest news report." Bowser said, patting his stomach.

"Great. TWO gluttons." Matt moaned. "Fine, Kirby, Bowser, if you find any EDIBLE food, help yourselves. And stay away from the fruit juice. It's fermented by now, for sure."

"I can do what I please." Bowser said. "I'm grown up enough as it is."

"POYO!" Kirby said.

"As part of the original crew, I think I speak for us all when I say there will be no drunk Ex-evil koopa kings aboard our ship. That'd be disastrous." Matt said. "If you need a drink, go outside and open your mouth."

"Anyways." Paul said, trying to change the conversation. "We may as well be comfy if we're going to stay here for a bit." After saying that, he pointed his sword at the fireplace, and fired a streak of flame. The fireplace quickly flared up, and lit the room with a wavering, warm orange glow.

"I'm going upstairs to search." Link announced. "You know where to find me if you need me."

"May I come?" Paul asked.

"I don't mind."

Link and Paul left the lobby and headed upstairs. Fox stayed behind the front desk continuing his sleuthing, and kept an eye on the underage Kirby as he rummaged about for food. Bowser tossed food down his gullet without bothering to look at what it was.

Ness and Matt worked together to shut the main doors, doors that had been open for the last couple of months. The floor was really wet near the doors, and the two fighters went to work cleaning it up. Luigi sat in front of the fireplace, drying himself off. Yoshi sat down next to Luigi, and tried warming up too.

"DISGUSTING!" Fox yelled, after watching Bowser scoff a particularly rotten looking loaf of bread. "How can you stand that junk?!? And why are you even still breathing after eating that garbage?"

"When you have dragon fire raging about in your belly, what you eat doesn't matter much anymore." Bowser replied, selecting another loaf of bread. Fox shuddered and turned his eyes away from the horror, and continued looking around.

"I think the floor's safe now." Matt sighed. Next to him was a bucket of water, and the floor in front of him was nice and clean. Ness was panting, and taking deep breaths.

"Picking up that much water with my mind is kinda hard, Matt." Ness said. "…Whew!"

"I think we should start exercising a little more, then." Matt concluded.

"Hey! Just because I can't-"

"I'm not picking on you, Ness." Matt said. "We ALL need to exercise a little more. Fighting helps, but it doesn't do everything."

"Fighting is almost all we have time for, nowadays." Ness said.

"Ok, then. I promise we'll take a break as often as we need to." Matt said. "Only when we have no clue what we need to do. Fair enough?"

"That sounds like that's as good as it's going to get. Deal." Ness said.

"ACK!" Fox gagged. Matt and Ness turned to look at Bowser, and quickly turned around and filled the water pail up with their lunch. Even Kirby lost his appetite, and he put an unfinished piece of dried fruit back on the ground where he found it and stuck his tongue out.

"Quiet." Samus said, suddenly.

"What is it, Sammy?" Matt asked.

"…I'm getting a distress signal."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link and Paul were in one of the rooms upstairs, peeking into the empty rooms and looking about for clues that might give away whether they had been inhabited recently.

"Empty." Link sighed, after peeking into an especially clear room.

"Lots of these rooms are empty." Paul said. "I'm starting to wonder if we're wasting our time in here."

"Aren't we both?" Link asked. He walked to the next door and opened it up. "Oh, maybe not."

"Huh?" Paul asked. He peeked into the room Link was looking in, and noted that it was slightly larger than the rest. "We may find something yet."

"Try that side of the room." Link said. "I'll handle this side."

"Right."

They split up and started digging around in the junk, which had been untouched for…since whenever everybody disappeared. There was a nasty pile of destroyed books, slimy with rainwater and other stuff, and a pile of folded, damp clothing. Link threw open the closet and rummaged about, digging in between the tunics and sandals inside.

Paul was looking under the bed when Link made a strange noise, a cross between a laugh, and an embarrassed noise. He looked up to see Link holding a pain of frilly underwear. Link's face was tomato red, the type of red people turn when they're embarrassed.

"…They're just like Zelda's…underwear." Link laughed sheepishly, blushing even harder.

"Link…we're in a girl's room."

"Yeah. I figured."

They sat there in the awkward silence for a few seconds, and then bolted from the room.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Who's signal is it?" Fox inquired.

"It's damaged, so I can't get identification." Samus said. "I think it's an ally ship, though."

"I sure hope it's not a trap." Matt said, echoing most everybody's fear. "Where's the signal's source?"

"It's in the direction of the coliseum." Samus said. "Do we check it out?"

"I'd rather be caught in a trap than leave behind somebody that needs help." Ness said.

"O POYO!" Kirby shouted.

"Yeah, Bowser can blow away any potential baddies with his garbage breath." Fox said.

"Shut it, fuzzy." Bowser growled. Fox did as he was told, because the last way he wanted to die, was by fiery stink breath.

"Then it is decided." Matt said. "Let's get Link and Paul, first."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hey, what's this?" Link asked suddenly. He and Paul were busy digging in another big room, thankfully not a girl's room this time.

"Let me see." Paul said. Link scooted out from under the bed, and pulled out an ornate crystal bottle with a jeweled stopper. Inside was a sapphire colored liquid that sparkled. "That's not all that interesting. It's just a bottle of special wine. Anybody would shove the bottle under the bed if they didn't want anybody seeing it."

"Oh."

THUMP!

"WHOAH!" The two swordsmen shouted. They whirled around and saw most of the team standing in the doorway. "Oh." They both echoed each other. "Whew."

"Find anything?" Fox asked.

"No." Paul sighed.

"Pichu!" Pichu said, pointing at the bottle and making blaming noises.

"Hey! We don't drink alcohol!" Link protested. "We just found it!"

"o…Poyo?" Kirby asked suddenly.

"You want to look at the bottle?" Link asked. "You BETTER not drink this!"

"Poyo." Kirby assured Link.

"Ok, then. I'm trusting you…" Link said. He tossed Kirby the bottle, who caught it with both of his stubby arms. The star warrior took a peek at the label, and started making lots of noise.

"Hold up a second!" Matt yelled. "Slow DOWN! Say it again, slowly."

"Poyroproy poy poyo." Kirby said.

"It's Meta Knight's favorite wine?" Fox asked, surprised. "I didn't know he drank."

"Poyo!"

"Oh, he's one of those guys that drinks only a tiny bit every once in a while?"

"Poyo!"

"Ok, then." Fox said. "But that doesn't exactly…hold up a second." He grabbed the bottle and ran downstairs. Everybody else followed him, and when they got back into the lobby, they spotted Fox digging about behind the main counter.

"Aha!" he shouted triumphantly. He stood up, and pointed at the shelf. "I didn't think that much of it, but there was an empty space on the shelf, instead of a bottle there was a pile of money. After looking at the label…" Fox pointed at the bottle, "…This bottle should have been where the money was sitting."

"That sounds like something Meta knight would do, alright." Paul said. "I haven't known him that long, but I know he wouldn't steal anything."

"So he paid for the wine, even if there wasn't anybody to pay." Matt concluded. "There aren't that many people that'd stick to the code of chivalry, even in a desperate situation."

"Then we better get going." Fox said. "There's a distress signal coming from the coliseum. They could be there!"

"What? You guys got a distress signal from somewhere near the coliseum?" Paul asked.

"A signal FROM the coliseum, or, more specifically, a ship that's landed inside the coliseum." Samus said.

"We need to get there fast, then!" Paul exclaimed. "Hey! Should we get the Doc and Roy first?"

"We'll live without 'em." Bowser said. "Let's go already!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Dr. Mario and Roy stood in one of the aisles in the library, with the doctor poring over books, very occasionally handing one to the young lord behind him.

Roy looked at the top book, "Psychology", without any understanding as to what it meant, or why his friend picked it out in the first place.

"Drat." Dr. Mario said.

"Wassup?" Roy asked.

"They don't have the books I need." Dr. Mario sighed.

"That stinks."

"Yeah, you wouldn't know how much it does." Dr. Mario sighed again, this time in a very depressed way. If ONLY Roy's head was in the right place, he might be able to see how much the doctor valued his friendship.

That was why the doctor was looking for a way to get Roy's mind back.

"I'm going to look in the restricted section now, Roy." Dr. Mario said. "I'd like you to follow me."

"Restricted!?!?" Roy yelped. "Ya mean, like, R rated books and stuff?"

"…Let's put it this way." Dr. Mario said. "It's full of dangerous books, stuff only geniuses should use."

"Oh! Kewl!" Roy said.

"Yep! It's awesome in there, but some of the books won't make any sense, so don't look in them. They might hurt your head."

"Don't worry about ME lookin' in any smart books! My brain smarts enough!"

"Ok, just keep close, then, Roy." They exited the giant shelf section, and walked towards the back of the library, which was darker than the rest of the library because there were no windows. Roy tucked the books he had under his left arm, and snapped his fingers in his right hand, providing a bit of light.

Dr. Mario went to work, searching for a book that would hopefully contain some of the angel's secret healing techniques. There was a very slight whooshing noise that only Roy heard.

He scowled as if thinking, then his face cleared as he forgot the noise.

"Hmm…this might work a little bit." Dr. Mario said, dropping a book to Roy.

"OOF!" Roy grunted as he caught a heavy tome. "Dang, you wasn't kidding when you said these books smart!"

"Sorry!" Dr. Mario said.

Roy busied himself with the books he had, picking them up off the floor and setting them on a nearby table, when he heard the whooshing noise again.

"What a funny noise." Roy said.

"Huh, what noise?" Dr. Mario asked curiously.

"Oh, just some odd WHOOSH noise, is all." Roy said.

"Tell me if you hear it again." Dr. Mario said, curious. "I want to know what it is, if it's important."

"Okey dokey!" Roy said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BAM!

Bowser punched a side door open to the coliseum, and everybody strode inside. It was pitch black inside, and very, very cold.

"Dagum." Ness shivered.

"Quoting our little friend here, It's STUPID cold!" Bowser said.

"Samus, what's the status of the stone structure around us?" Matt asked. He waited a few seconds while Samus scanned the walls with her visor.

"There's a huge force pushing outwards from the inside of the coliseum. I hook up to my ship's computers, and the most likely scenario is flooding."

"Great." Paul said. "You mean the whole stadium is filled up with water!?"

"What if there's sharks?" Luigi asked, shaking.

"Sharks? Up here? HAR!" Bowser guffawed. "You crack me up, Luigi."

"That's enough, Bowser." Matt said. "Let's get up to the top floor of the coliseum and see if we can't get a good look at the ship from above."

"I can lead us up there!" Ness said. "I remember this place like the back of my hand!"

Ness quickly walked to the front of the group, and led them towards a large staircase. They ascended the stairs until they reached the top, then Ness took them through a hallway to one last staircase.

At the top of the staircase was a door, which Ness opened with his mind.

Everybody stepped out into the familiar freezing cold storm, and turned around to look at the gigantic field of water that filled up the stadium.

"Yep, it's filled to the brim with water." Matt said. "…Can anybody see anything underneath the water?"

"Nope, too dark." Link said.

"I will just use my X-Ray visor, then." Samus said. "And then my sonic visor for good measure." Samus raised a finger to the side of her helmet, and everybody watched quietly as she searched for the ship. After awhile Samus pressed the button on her helm again to switch visors, and after five more seconds, made the report.

"It's the Halberd."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hey, Doc!" Roy said. "Hurry up already! I'm bored outta my mind!"

"Chill, Roy." Dr. Mario said. "I'm almost through."

whoosh.

"There it is again!" Roy said. "It's getting annoying, dang it!"

"Roy, where was it?"

"I think it was outside! Dumb stupid black things-"

"WHAT?!? Why didn't you tell me sooner!?!"

"I wasn't sure at first, but then I became sure, and tried telling ya twice, but ya said ya needed quiet, so quiet ya got!"

"Dang, we better go warn the others now-"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

The whole library shook, and started tilting to the side. Dr. Mario flailed his arms wildly to regain his balance, but his foot slipped and he hurtled towards the ground. Roy regained his balance on the ground, and caught the doc before he hit the ground.

The two smashers rolled about from the force of Dr. Mario's landing, and from the tilting building. The library shook with a strong tremor, and tilted more. Roy looked up in shock as the giant shelf of books tilted towards him and the doctor, and when Dr. Mario looked at it, his brain froze in surprise. Roy collected his wits just before the cascade of books crashed on them and grabbed Dr. Mario and his books and sprinted for the door faster than he ever ran before. A huge tremor knocked the fiery youth off his feet, and the library tilted to the left. He and Dr. Mario rolled to the far wall amidst a crumbling wave of books and broken shelves, and when they slammed into the far wall, they had to jump right back up and run up the other side to avoid being crushed to death.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"POYOPOYOPOYOPOYO!?!?!?" Kirby screamed.

"The one and only Halberd, Kirby." Samus said, smiling a little bit at the star warrior's enthusiasm.

"Poyo?"

"I'm trying to use the ship's security system to find out if anybody's alive, but the water's causing too much interference."

"Then, we just drain the coliseum!" Link said. "It couldn't be any easier."

"Uh…I think there was a few main gates, at least two." Ness said, thinking. "They'd be on the two sides facing towards the city, so if we break the two gates open we can drain the water."

"Bad news." Samus said. "The security system is destroyed, so if we drain the water, we have to find out the old way."

"Exploration." Fox said. He drew his staff, and twirled it about. "Bring it on."

"Alright!" Ness said. "Um…how do we split up? The gates are big, and we'll need to spread our power evenly if we're going to do this right."

"I'll take north gate." Yoshi said, finally speaking up.

"North." Bowser said.

"East." Ness announced.

"North." Fox said.

"East." Matt said.

"Eh, East." Paul decided.

"Poyo!"

"North." Samus said.

"PiCHU!"

"E-East." Luigi said.

"North." Link said.

"Alright the." Matt said. "Take care not to be washed away by the water when it comes out! Be super careful, because if you aren't, you could be super dead. After the water's out, meet at the ship's deck."

"Right!" Everybody shouted before splitting up.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ha ha! Tell me what you think, everybody. Sorry it took so long to get this out…but here it is. I'm finally in the mood to type again, so expect another update soon!**

**So…Who's on the halberd? If there is anybody on the halberd…are they still alive? Can the smashers beat the water, or will the water wash them out of the heavens, down to the ground far below?**

**Is the Doc and Roy going to live through the mess they're in? What's causing it?**

**The biggest question of all: Why is Angel Land not so angelic anymore? What could have changed the world in the sky so much?**

**All these questions…Will be answered sometime within this arc. Most of them will be answered next chapter!**

**Keep a peeper open for the next update, and until then, I'll see you next time!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**(Officially the second largest chapter in Corruption! And I wasn't even trying:D)**


	34. Unsealed

**One whole bloody month. Plus some…**

**Wow, I sure hope I never have such a bout of laziness again! **

**Since I have proven myself to be unreliable, I refuse to make promises as to when I will update and whatnot.**

**However, I have NO plans to throw in the towel. Rest assured, this series of stories will be finished someday, but now, WHEN is the real question. Sigh**

**One New Year's resolution: Update more often. Once a week sounds good to me, but I'm still suffering from danged laziness! I really can't wait for my last year of high school to end, and that may be a part of my problem.**

**Anyways…here we have the next chapter of the Angel Land arc. What happens next? oooh, da suspense….**

**Ok, time to end the useless and boring starting notes. Let's get back to that story!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

CLACK

The library quivered ever so slightly as it finally came to a rest, and as the dust settled inside the rock that just fell came to a rest atop the rubble below the two smashers, who were hanging above on a chandelier. Dr. Mario and Roy finally loosened their grip on the light fixture they were holding onto. They dropped to the ground, and landed gracefully on their two feet like cats.

"Doc?" Roy asked, sounding worried.

"Yes, Roy?" Dr. Mario asked.

"Was that the boogie man I saw outside?"

"Roy! No, it was not!" Dr. Mario shouted, exasperated. "The Boogie Man does not exist!"

"Then who have I been looking for inside my closet all these years?! You mean to tell me it was for nothing!?!?!"

Dr. Mario chose not to answer that question.

"Roy, I have a better idea. Let's find out WHAT it was. How does that sound?"

"What if it was an evil hula hoop made of enchanted gold!?!? We'd be rich if we caught it and sold it! MWA HA HA!"

Dr. Mario concluded that Roy, had, in fact lost his mind. He was an idiot.

"Let's go, Roy." Dr. Mario sighed, gathering his books and walking up the slope that used to be the level floor of the library.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back at the coliseum, the smashers were at their designated posts, all waiting for the big signal.

"GO!" Link shouted into the Super Smash Brothers phone. He threw his very last powder keg, which was instantly set off by a volley of equally explosive attacks on his side. The other side of the coliseum shook just as bad, as the Smashers hammered away with super powerful attacks.

When the giant stone doors quivered, and water sprayed from the cracks, everybody ran for their lives. The doors exploded outwards, and water shot out so fast it made a giant wall of water.

The Coliseum took awhile to drain, and the amount of water coming out was mind boggling, but the stadium finally drained and left behind the beaten husk of the once great starship, the Halberd.

It lay crookedly on its right side, the main deck nearly parallel with the wet mud beneath it. There were gigantic holes blasted in the sides where some sort of missile had blown the ship's side open, and mangled ship parts lay strewn all over the ground.

"How's the ship doing, Samus?" Matt asked her again.

Samus replied by activating her scanner once more, and looked the ship over.

"The power appears to be in working order, and the ship's mainframe is still intact." Samus said. "If anybody was alive inside the ship at the time of the crash, they could very well still be alive…Of course, assuming they didn't run out of food and water."

"Water would have been the least of their problems." Paul said suddenly. "We've got company!"

The smashers whirled around, only to see a teeming mob of familiar black silhouettes.

"It's the demons. Again." Bowser growled in a low voice.

"C'mon, we can handle a few measly jerks!" Ness said.

"Perhaps you did not look to our left?" Link asked calmly. He motioned in the mentioned direction, where there were just as many black creatures as in front of them.

"Yeah? If you thought that was bad news, then listen to this: We're surrounded!" Matt shouted.

"AAAAAAAH!" Luigi yelped before hiding his eyes under his hat.

"They moved so quickly." Yoshi gasped. "How did we get caught so easily?"

"We aren't caught until the last one of us loses consciousness." Fox said. "I have no intention of falling to the darkness! Ever!"

"Don't worry about that!" Bowser said. "The first ones that will taste oblivion will be these things!" At that, Bowser blew out the stinkiest cloud of white flame the world had ever been unfortunate to witness. It was hard to tell if the demons in front of him first died by the stink, or the flames, but it hardly mattered all the same.

Bowser's flames blazed a straight line through the hordes of demons, but it was quickly filled up with extras. Weapons flashed in the darkness, swords, hammers, cannons, staffs, guns, anything the smashers used as weapons.

Unfortunately, the demons continued flowing into the arena, and the smashers fought them back with just an inch of space between them and the ship behind their backs.

If they didn't get help soon, there wouldn't be any rescuing that dark day.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was still raining outside when Dr. Mario and Roy got outside, but it was stupid to expect it to stop raining, and so of course the thought hadn't even crossed their minds.

The cold rain still stung like icy needles, and hurt all the worse because they had finally dried off and warmed up a little. The first thing the two friends did after exiting the library was to run away as fast as they could, and look at it from a distance.

In the pressing gloom, it was hard to tell what had happened, but after a few flashes of lightning the scene was revealed. The hill that the library used to sit on was cracked open, and the east side of the hill was blown completely out. That explained why the library tilted on its side, but what was the cause?

That exact question was what Dr. Mario was asking himself.

"Whoa." Roy gasped. "I don't think even an evil golden enchanted Hula hoop could have done that. It must have been a whole mob of 'em!"

"For the last time, Roy, it wasn't some stupid golden toy, OR the boogie man! We're going to get to the bottom of this, and we're going to do it now!"

"What was it, then?"

"That, my pal, is what we're going to find out. So, stop coming up with imaginary things, and let's find the REAL thing!"

"Kewl! Sounds awesome ta me, Doc!"

"Good." Dr. Mario replied simply. He and Roy walked back up to the hill the library rested on, and searched about near its shattered base.

It wasn't until they walked around it at least twice that Roy spotted the black, yawning fissure that stared at them from under the rubble.

"Docko!" Roy shouted. "Found somethin'!"

Dr. Mario came running at Roy's call, and when he saw the black hole, it was hard to read his mind.

"Roy, I don't know what to say about this hole…but it looks forced."

"What do ya mean by that, Doc?"

"It looks like something forced its way out, is what I mean. Look at the gigantic gouges along the stone here…Yeah, something forced its way out, alright. Big, by the looks of it."

"What do you think it was?"

"Hard to say, Roy, but I think it may have been some sort of……..I think right now it's safe to conclude it was big…and very strong. We're going in, because whatever it was, it's away from home."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

WHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

The smashers were taken by surprise by the sudden whirring, and were even more surprised when the cold metal against their wet backs began to vibrate.

The demons in front of them looked up at the ship, obviously, they could see something the heroes couldn't.

They stared down the barrel of a gigantic laser cannon.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Halberd's weapons systems were online, and firing.

The noise was horrible, but not so horrible as the angry, hateful screeches of the demons being scorched into oblivion. The demons that escaped screamed in hatred, and even though the smashers could not understand what was being said, the message came across loud and clear.

We'll get you.

As simple as the message was, it brought to light just exactly what the smashers were up against. The tinniest thing can make you come to your senses, and for the first time…

The smashers were afraid.

The cold and wet warriors were so out of it, they didn't notice the hatch beside them hiss open. A small figure with wispy white hair, crazy glasses, and a small white lab coat toppled out of the hatch headfirst, bounced on his dome once, and fell flat on the ground on his back.

"Oooh…Have I got a case of vertigo!"

"EGAD!!" Luigi screamed. Before anybody could catch him, he jumped up on Bowser's back and crawled into his shell next to Bowser's neck.

"GAH!" Bowser shouted in indignation and embarrassment. He quickly tucked into his shell to get the chicken plumber out, while everybody else turned to the small man on the ground.

"Well, if it isn't E. Gad!" Matt exclaimed.

"Hello, young Smashers." The tiny scientist moaned from the ground. Paul stepped forwards and helped him off the ground, but it took E. Gad a few moments to get his breath back. "Ho ho…We better get on inside before them black creatures get back! I doubt the Poltergust 3000 will work on 'em, and the ship's running outta power, so let's get going!"

E. Gad hurried everybody inside, and Bowser was the last to walk in, holding Luigi, before E. Gad closed the hatch.

"…He was almost down my underwear when I finally got him!" Bowser was saying to everybody else, who laughed as the Koopa king went scarlet in the face. Luigi was hanging from Bowser's claws, looking so petrified even Medusa couldn't have scared him that bad…Maybe.

"I see you all came in the nick of time!" E. Gad said seriously. "We were about to give up hope."

"So there's more people aboard?" Samus asked.

"Indeed. It's a long story how we ended up here, so, I shall explain it to you in full when the time comes." Professor Gad said. "For now, though, let's get a bite to eat and meet up with everybody else, shall we?"

Yoshi smiled appreciatively and rubbed his tummy, then followed after everybody else as they followed the stooped little professor.

They walked along metal walkways past many chugging machines, some of them working laboriously as if they were drawing their last breath. Everything seemed so worn, and beaten, it was a wonder it was working at all. Matt was walking along the path, and he suddenly stopped to look at the path leading up to the doorway. He was surprised to note the doorway was actually on the wall! From his viewpoint, anyhow.

"I didn't know there was an artificial gravity generator in here!" he exclaimed.

"Ho ho ho." E Gad chuckled. "How else did you think it was possible to walk around in here in space?"

"Didn't think this ship needed one." Matt said honestly as he inspected the rails and the machines under the walkway.

The rest of the trip went on in silence. There didn't seem to be much to talk about, even if the smashers were about to be reunited with a few of their friends.

"…I was just thinking." Link said suddenly. "E. Gad?"

"Yes?" the inventor asked.

"Did you hear anything from Master hand?" Link wondered.

"I haven't seen him since the attack." E. Gad sighed. "I personally think it is strange that he disappeared."

"No offense, but I thought he'd try to rescue everybody." Bowser growled. "Makes me think he went chicken."

"And nobody's seen Cress since the banquet after we beat Dhaos." Fox said. "Last time I saw the blond haired knight was at that table, and he and Master Hand were very close friends. Maybe they're together at the moment." he concluded.

"But we don't know anything about Cress, so that doesn't help." Paul said. "I don't know, but maybe they're trying to do something only they can do?"

"Like what?" Link asked.

"I mean…We know Master Hand wouldn't just run off, so maybe he and Cress are fighting something else we don't know about?"

"We know about those demons, and yet we still don't have an explanation!" Matt said, frustrated. "We're just running in circles here! We need answers NOW!!!!"

Everything went quiet as Matt silently fumed. Everybody else shifted about nervously, not wanting to be the target of vented anger.

"…I know exactly how you feel." Paul said. "Because I feel the same way. We ARE getting something accomplished, though."

"What?"

"We're finding everybody that got lost during the attack, and I think we'll have better chances of succeeding if we just gather everybody."

"In short, rebuild the Super Smash Brothers, and strike back?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, that's kind of what we've been doing, and, as annoying as that tree was in that forest, all it showed to us were our friends in trouble. That makes me think, maybe, all our first task is is to regroup." Paul said. "And now that we've found the Halberd, we have a big place to stick everybody in."

"Better than the hologram machine." Link muttered aside.

"And after that?" Matt asked.

"…Well, what good is battling GUN if we don't have a fortress?" Paul smiled widely. "After we get everybody back together, let's rebuild the Smash City!"

"That'll be hard, but I think I'm getting excited already!" Luigi said.

"There will be monsters, evil baddies, and lotsa other dark stuff." Bowser grinned.

"Mamma mia!" Luigi wailed, vibrating wildly as his knees knocked together.

"I think we were aware of that the moment we agreed to work with Master Hand." Fox said. "C'mon, Luigi. Be a man."

"Big words coming from you, Fuzzy." Bowser said.

"Can I help it if I'm a demi-human?" Fox scowled at the Koopa King.

"ALL right, split it up." Ness said. "Everybody's starting to lose their cool, and I REALLY don't like what some of you are thinking! We're in this together, and dagum it, we're going to see this through! Being all hatey with each other isn't helping things!"

"Poyo!"

"Nobody wants me to use my self destruct attack, do they?" Paul threatened, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Go ahead and blow up. Being angry and blowing up is for stupid brainless bob-ombs, and I KNOW how stupid those things are!" Bowser growled "Go ahead!"

"Then maybe you haven't felt THIS kind of heat yet!" Paul snarled.

"Bring it on! I was starting to get bored anyways!" Bowser shouted back.

"Oh, dear…" E. Gad mumbled, backing up slightly.

"You keep doing that." Ness said. "I'll be right behind you."

"Poyo!"

"PIII!"

The professor, Ness, Yoshi, Kirby, Pichu, Samus, and Luigi ran off as fast as they could and hid behind a big motor, just as the walkway exploded in a plume of white flame.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Matt, Bowser, Fox, Link, and Paul all jumped out of the cloud of flame, and rushed back at each other. The collision caused another explosion and dissipated the previous flames.

Fox flipped in the air and landed feet first sideways on a support beam, and kicked off it towards Bowser. He twisted in midair and caught the Koopa King in the chest with a spinning drill kick that sent them both crashing into a pile of machinery. Bowser grabbed Fox by the scruff of the neck, and tossed him back at Paul.

Paul was in between Link and Matt, shouting "Sorry!", when Fox plowed into him and knocked him off the rail. Matt's and Link's weapons slipped at the sudden absence of Paul's sword, and the Master Sword rang off Matt's metal arm. Matt drew his fist back and slugged Link in the face, who fell right onto the ground in surprise. Matt jumped into the air and charged his fist with ice, and came back down at high speed. Link collected his wits and grabbed the master sword nearby.

"Din's Fire!" Link yelled. His sword glowed red and a tongue of flame danced into the air, then he stabbed the walkway. A huge dome of flame rapidly expanded, and Matt punched right through. His fist hit the walkway, which froze over. The ice inched towards Link, then icicles started shooting up from the ground. Link yelped and danced around the ice as best as he could, and made his way towards Matt.

Matt fired off another power punch, which Link parried. He swung at Matt's shoulder diagonally, who ducked over backwards and kicked Link in the stomach twice. Before Link could fall and impale his back on the ice, a wave of fire melted it, and burnt Link as well.

Fox shot up into the air and dodged Bowser's breath attack, and hurtled downwards. He knocked Bowser hard on the shout with his boot, then punched him twice in the head before doing a flip kick and hitting him in the shin. Bowser fell over backwards and Fox was about to shoot him in the rear when Paul ran and jumped off Bowser's belly like a spring. The magic swordsman hit Fox at full power, and they rolled across the ground beating each other up with their fists. When Fox was up against the ground, he kicked Paul off and knocked him away with a spinning kick. A dome made of transparent blue energy, and built out of hexagonal shapes lined with gold appeared around Paul, and he skidded across the ground before getting back up without a scratch.

He charged back at Fox and swung a fist clumsily, which Fox caught. He heaved Paul over his head and slammed him against the ground, but didn't expect him to bounce off and into the air. Paul landed on his feet and ducked under another punch, and swerved to the side to avoid Fox's foot. Paul tackled him shoulder first and knocked him off balance, and then flicked his snout with his finger. Fox yelped in pain and held his nose, which stung like heck.

Both of them were about to punch each other in the face, when a blast of cold air froze them completely solid.

"Hy YAH!"

Bowser just got up, and was about to rejoin the fray when a well-aimed hammer crashed down on his head and rendered him unconscious.

Matt and Link were still engaged. They were so focused on their fight, they didn't hear anybody yelling.

Link, therefore, yelled in surprise when a big, muscular, and dark skinned arm wrapped around his neck and another yanked his sword arm behind his back, twisting it into an undeniably painful position. Matt was sucked backwards in a whirlwind, and didn't even have a chance to yell before a silvery sphere with two black dot eyes swallowed him.

"I knew getting assistance was a smart idea!" Professor E. Gad declared.

"Maybe because, I don't know, I suggested it?" Ness asked.

"He he, so sorry." E. Gad said. "One forgets stuff easily when they're old!"

"That's LAME!" Popo said, shaking his head. His hands were empty of any hammer at all.

"…Why was everybody fighting, anyways?" Nana asked innocently, holding her hammer by the handle and resting it on her shoulder.

"It's a guy thing." Samus smirked behind her visor. "It's normal. That was a great shot there, Popo. You make me proud."

"…Heh…Thanks?" Popo said, wondering if that was the right thing to say after having his manliness made fun of.

"Mind giving me a hand, here?" Ganondorf asked. "Pointy ears here is starting to give me trouble."

"And Cupil is saying that he can't hold Matt in for much longer." Fina said. She was wearing a silvery dress with white leggings underneath. She had on white boots with semi-high heels that went up to just above her ankles, and they had gold lining at the top. Her sleeves had on golden cuffs and the upper part of the sleeves were detached from the torso of her dress. She had blue spherical earrings in her ears, and her neck-length platinum blonde hair was under a thin, transparent silver veil.

"Po HOY yo!" Kirby said.

"Yeah, let's round up these hooligans. They can meet everybody else when they're ready to act civil." Yoshi sighed.

"Ok, Link, that's it!" Ganon said. He bopped Link smartly on the head, and the hylian's eyes rolled into his head before he slumped onto the ground, as limp as a rag.

"That's how I like my pal here the best." Link heard Ganon say as he lost consciousness. "I like him nice 'an quiet!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Light.

Link's eyes were still blurry when he opened them, and the light burnt into his head like a torch. He closed his eyes and felt instant relief.

"Ah ha. I see that our friend Link awakens." Said a calm and collected voice.

"Nerb!"

"Cut that out, Snurckle! You know that's rude to say!"

"Smorff!"

"Why-YOU!!"

"…Anyways, Link, if you can hear me, it's good to see you again."

"Yeah, don't go all mushy on me now." Link joked. "Seriously though, I can see why you would want other company, what with fighting all the time."

"Funny. Wasn't that exactly what you were doing when you came here?"

"…"

"If you need anybody, you are bound to run into someone. For now, I bid thee adieu."

"Huh?" Link asked, but Meta Knight was already gone from the room.

"Take that back, doofus!"

"BLURBLE!"

Link sighed, and attempted to ignore the noise and get some rest.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Wait a minute…

"Meta Knight!?!?!" Link yelled, shooting up in his bed and smashing his head into the bunk above. He drifted backwards and held his head, waiting for the stars to clear from his vision.

"Hello?" Somebody asked from the doorway.

"Nana? That you?" Link asked.

"I heard a crash…" Nana said.

"That was me." Link groaned, holding his bruised forehead.

"DANG IT!" Nana yelled. "I TOLD Meta Knight the beds were too low, but he doesn't care, because HE's so short HE doesn't have to worry about it!"

"Naw, it's ok…" Link started saying.

"No, it's NOT ok!" Nana said. "I'm going to talk to him about it now!"

"Hold up a second!" Link said, grimacing in pain. "So, Meta Knight IS here, right this very moment?"

"I think so…" Nana said. "He's been acting kinda weird though. He's also been hanging out with that Cloud man. He's so stern and stuff he's almost scary. Meta Knight also looks kinda different and stuff, but I can't place my finger on it…Did ya know he's broken his wings fighting monsters here at least five times, and his wings keep healing up super fast?"

"Huh?" Link asked, bewildered at the flow of information. "Hey, not to be mean or anything, but I just woke up, I have a headache, and you're just talking, and talking. All I wanted to know was whether Meta Knight was here or not."

"Uh, I don't know." Nana said. "Oh! Now I remember what I was coming here for! E. gad told me to get you if you were awake. We're having a meeting in the bridge!"

"Ooook, can you take me there, please?" Link asked. "I haven't been on this ship before."

"That's fine." Nana said. "I'll take ya there, but you better keep up!"

She took off, running out of the room without giving Link a chance to respond.

"HEY!!! WAIT!" Link cried, springing up from the bed and running after her. He exited the doorway and looked both directions down the hallway, and spotted her to his left. He ran towards her, and lost sight of her as she bolted around a right corner. He made it there about two seconds after she did, and saw her make another left turn at a cross-road type of hallway.

He dashed down the staircase there, and when he got to the bottom he leapt over the last couple of mangled stairs onto smooth metal tiles. He righted himself and shot out of the doorway just in time to catch Nana's hood with his hand.

"Gotcha!" Link said.

"Aw, Man!" Nana whined.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"…"

"Chill out, Meta Knight." Ganondorf said. "So what if they're a little bit late?"

"A few of them should be familiar with the ship by now." Meta Knight said disdainfully. "I would think they'd be more respectful."

"You still haven't told me what this meeting's about." Ganon said. seriously.

"And like everybody else, you'll wait until every last person that's supposed to be here is here."

"Aw, C'mon!"

"Ganondorf Bogmire, do you realize how immature you are acting?" Meta Knight hissed sharply. He stared at Ganon right in the face. Ganon was on his knees, begging him like a child. Ganon seemed to come to his senses, and he stood up as quickly as he could without falling over.

"…Sorry."

"Simply remember this: YOU are a King. Kings do not beg. They order."

"Ok, then!" Ganon said. "I order you to tell me what you are thinking, in the name of the Triforce!"

"Nice try." Meta Knight chuckled. "…But I'm not your knight, nor do I work for you in any way."

"Please sign this contract, then." Ganon said.

"I am currently employed under King Dedede." Meta Knight said.

"Please-"

"Ganon, NO."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Pe YEW!" Roy said, pinching his nose. "Doc, by shnoz huts because it shtinks so bad!"

Doctor Mario was busy looking at the ground. He was walking stooped over, with his face about a foot from the ground. He followed a worn path of holes, which seemed to be made by long, sharp spikes.

"Keep that sword lit, Roy." Doctor Mario said. "And NEVER let go of it, understand?"

"We been over dis already, Doc." Roy sighed.

"Hey, shine the light this way…" Doctor Mario asked, pointing. Roy aimed his sword and lit up a ball of flame on the end, and fired it slow-mo in the direction the Doc was pointing.

"Don't do that!" Doctor Mario scolded.

"But I'm getting tired of creating flames around my sword!" Roy moaned. "It's easier to create a ball of fire and keep it alive."

"Whatever you say, Roy." Doctor Mario said. "Just keep some light in here, eh?"

"Sure."

Doctor Mario continued his examination of the ground for about another minute before coming up against big arch made of stone. It was very jagged along the edges, and it was more of a broken hole in the wall than an arch. The stink coming from behind it was the strongest yet.

Roy almost gagged to death standing there, and even Doctor Mario who had his share of super disgusting things, was having a hard time ignoring the stench.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Roy screamed nasally. His eyes were crossed, but since his eyes were shut tight anyway he just looked like he was screaming in pain.

"Oh Shut up!" Doctor Mario said, tired of being nice. He stepped into the room, which Roy considered NOT doing, but did anyways.

It was a dome shaped room, and like the stone passageways before it, it was made of black stone. At the back was something that resembled an altar of some sort, but time and the creature, whatever it was, had worn it down to almost a mere pile of rubble and a badly gouged pedestal.

On top of it was a giant, clear yellow gem the shape of a stinger.

The altar was covered in them.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back in the bridge of the Halberd…

"Now, as you all know…" Meta Knight said. "…We are afflicted by a strange enemy that is perfectly black in color, and has the strange ability to give us power. By Paul's reports, we can affirm that these creatures are indeed not heartless."

"We have a theory." Matt said, standing up from his seat.

"That is why we are here. Please, continue."

Matt brandished the black journal, and Meta Knight's eyes flashed in surprise.

"This journal is Cress Albane's journal before he died fighting Dhaos the first time. In it are his accounts of the events that led up to the final fight. After his last wish and words, Master Hand concludes the journal with a note that Cress Albane was dead, but they were victorious against Dhaos."

"…And?"

"Excuse me…What I was going to say next was that Cress actually describes these monsters a few times throughout this book, and there is also a rather cryptic message inside as well."

"I have heard about it from Ness already. You still cannot find it, yes?"

"That's right. It seemed to appear when we needed it the most, but Ness can't seem to remember it, and he has a WICKED memory!"

"Yeah!" Ness said. "I only saw it that one time, but I suspect the book is enchanted somehow."

"Then we simply need to try a few tests on it." Meta Knight said.

"I think we better leave that to Zelda, or somebody else that knows a lot about magic." Link said. "Zelda might figure something out."

"Alright." Meta Knight said. "So far, I've gathered, our plans are to gather as many of the smashers as we can, retired or not, and rebuild our base inside the moon dimension?"

"That is the plan." Matt said.

"But since we're out and about, we can cause some trouble with GUN while we're at it." Paul said. "You have to admit, they have some sweet stuff that'll come in handy when we rebuild.

"…'OUR' plan?" Ness asked.

"Of course. Did you think I was going to sit here and let you all do the work?" Meta Knight chuckled. "I think everybody else here agrees with me."

"Darn tootin'." Ganondorf said. "Where Link goes, I go somewhere else and do it better!"

"HEY!" Link shouted.

"I've watched as lands I knew and loved were destroyed." Fina said quietly. "I do not care if this GUN commander is the leader of the world. He is nothing but a tyrant like Galcian was. I WILL help stop him!"

"Nana and me, we'll work together and help you out till the end!" Popo said.

"Yeah, what my brother said!" Nana said, winking cutely.

"…And of course, I will help as well."

Cloud stepped into the room, and everybody looked at him.

"Just wondering, but how many of you came again?" Cloud asked, crossing his arms.

"Uh…we're all here, I…think." Bowser said uncertainly.

"Roy and Doctor Mario!" Samus gasped.

"ARGH! How did we forget them!?" Paul shouted in frustration. He started hitting himself on the head and pulling his hair. "Gah! Stupid!"

"Beating yourself up isn't going to get anything done." Cloud said gravely. "Do you know why we let the coliseum flood? Do you even know what's out there this second?"

"Our friends are in grave danger." Meta Knight said. "We all are in very dire circumstances!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"With…the awakening of…the…dark lord…the servants of the earth will…once…again…rise…to serve…him…" Doctor Mario read.

He was standing in the domed room with Roy, reading an engraving behind the pedestal.

"Keep readin', doc." Roy said.

"It's almost too worn, but I think I've deciphered the rest." Doctor Mario said. "It's written in old angelic."

"We need to remember this stuff and tell the others!" Roy said, getting excited. "Dark lord, that's scarier than an enchanted gold hula hoop!"

"Yeah, whatever…'Here rests Scorpio, the lord of lightning, servant to the earth, bearer of darkness, and guardian of the sky…May he stay here forevermore, may his thunder never crash again.'"

"I still can't believe we're battling a dark lord!?" Roy mumbled. "Whawasisnameagain?"

"…WE BEAT A DARK LORD ALREADY, AND HIS NAME WAS DHAOS!!!" Doctor Mario roared. "AND AS FOR WHO THIS DARK LORD IS, I HAVE NO FREAKING IDEA! MAMMA MIA! IT'S-A SO FRUSTRATING-A!"

"…Whoa."

CRACK!

The two smashers whirled around in shock and looked for the source of the noise, and the real cause didn't even occur to either of them before a pebble dropped on Roy's head.

"Owie!" Roy wailed. Doctor Mario's face shot up and looked at the ceiling, and the first thing he saw was a giant crack spreading across the ceiling.

"The cave's collapsing!" Doctor Mario shouted in a panic. "Run!"

He bolted from the room, and Roy grabbed the big stinger on the pedestal before following after him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Think I'll cut it short right here.**

**Ok, yeah, I AM going to update again soon! I can't STAND waiting so long, and I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting.**

**CORRECTION: Next chapter will be the clinching chapter for this arc.**

**Yes, I am sure you still have some questions, but I'll try answering those NEXT chapter!**

**Please, be patient till I get da next chappy out! You've all been great, and I'm sorry to keep you waiting for a month. Some poor way to treat you, I think.**

**Anyhow, thank you all for reading! I'll get this story updated sometime this weekend (I'll try, and plan on it, not accounting for evil laziness, which I shall defeat!) Well, see you guys! Thanks again, and take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku- **


	35. Scorpio, Lord of Lightning

**Yes, now, I am back! As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to need to type like mad!**

**If anybody noticed last chappy, the Doc got so mad he started using his old accent! Wonder why he wasn't using it anyways…(Hey, I'm the author, I know why. Ha.)**

**Well, the sooner the notes end the sooner the story starts! Thank you, everybody who reviewed! I'm glad nobody's mad with me. Now, let's see if this chapter turns out how I want it to…**

**Before I forget, I appreciate the correction concerning Ganon's last name. You know who you are. Just curious…Where was his last name first mentioned? is it made up by us fanfiction authors, or is it actually in one of the Zelda games? I'd like to know: stuff like that is interesting to know. Thanks again!**

**Let's-a Go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Of all the people I know, I can't believe you forgot your own partners!" Cloud roared. "Just who do you think you are?!?!"

"I cannot even begin to explain what danger Roy and Doctor Mario are in, and now that we know Roy is unstable, they have even less of a chance of survival!" Meta Knight said coldly.

"I told you!" Matt roared back. "Roy's perfectly logical in battle, and should something bad happen, I'm sure he'll be able to handle it!"

"Inexcusable!" Meta Knight shouted. "Making excuses does not solve issues, and I think your issue is responsibility! If I were Master Hand, I'd remove you from the team immediately! Even though I'm not Master hand, I'm still dumbfounded by your irresponsibility!"

"Hey! They wanted to go to the library and investigate, and we let them!" Bowser yelled. "It's their fault for not coming back!"

"You dare to place the blame on others?" Meta Knight asked. "You're worse than Matt!"

"Looking for a fight, Mr. Marshmallow? I'm right here!" Bowser growled.

"Never, EVER, insult a knight." Meta Knight hissed. He and Bowser charged each other at the same time, but they were stopped a foot from each other. Luigi seized Bowser by the tail and threw him backwards towards the rear of the room, which only made him madder. Cloud deftly grabbed Meta Knight's wings, and jerked backwards. Meta Knight stopped instantly, and sheathed his sword which he just noticed he had drawn.

Click.

"Back up, everybody." Samus said, holding her cannon out and sweeping it across the offenders. "You people are acting nothing like civil. Meta Knight, Don't EVEN pretend you were acting right! You're all acting like idiots, and we're going to sit here and talk like we were supposed to! Not an all-out brawl like earlier, got it? I'll shoot the next person that offends full of lightning, so be smart and stop fighting."

Meta Knight jerked his wing free of Cloud's grasp and passed him a withering scowl, then sat down in the captain's chair without another word.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Roy and Doctor Mario dived out of the cave's opening just as it collapsed.

They fell face first into the wet cloud around the library, and jumped back up to watch the library sink into the clouds.

First, the black mound appeared to sink into the clouds as if they were made of mud, then it dropped completely through. The pillars of the library roared past them in a screaming gale, and the roof passed them with a roaring whoosh. The wind blew them backwards across the ground, and then the wind came roaring back to fill in the space where the library was just seconds before.

The two smashers groped the slick clouds in search of a handhold, but they found none. They skidded towards the hole in the sky, and just as they toppled over Dr. Mario grabbed his knife and jammed it into the 'ground'. Roy grabbed his ankle and hung on while the doc pulled out another knife and used it to climb the wall.

Roy looked over his shoulder, and witnessed the library falling and shrinking out of sight as it fell into the blackness. When it was just a speck, it vanished beneath a black cloud that was completely pitch black. It looked like a bottomless sky.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Roy screamed. He clutched Dr. Mario's leg even harder, and tightened his grip on the big yellow stinger he had under his arm.

"Oh, my…" Dr. Mario gasped. He had watched the library fall, too. His vision started to swim.

_Great!_ He yelled at himself mentally. _Some time to start getting faint!_

He tried his best to focus and squeeze out all his thoughts, and after he had collected himself slightly, he pulled out one knife and stuck it into the cloud above the other one.

"Roy!" He yelled. "Get your phone!"

"My hands are full!"

Surprised, he looked back at Roy again, and saw the stinger.

"WHAT!?! Why'd you get that!?"

"I thought it looked nice! Maybe we could use it!"

"…Fine! Stick it inside your shirt or something!" Dr. Mario sighed.

"Uh…k."

"Be careful. If you let go…"

"I know!" Roy wailed. He slid the stinger inside his vest as carefully as possible, then he pulled out his phone.

"Ok, press the emergency button." Dr. Mario instructed.

Roy did so, and the phone began beeping and flashing a red light. The small visual display on the phone said this: "SOS signal engaged."

Dr. Mario tightened his grip on the knives stuck into the cloud wall, and looked over his shoulder black at the black abyss below. If things worked well, the only thing he'd need to worry about is sore hands. If not…

It was going to be a long wait.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!

"There, Meta Knight." Ganon said, looking at his phone. "See? They're still alive. I don't know what's been up with you lately, but you've been…hard."

"I still do not approve of those other smashers." Meta Knight said, silencing his own phone. "They are untested. Soft. They are not strong enough to face our enemy, whoever or whatever it is."

"Yeah…and you're saying we're up to the job ourselves?" Ganon asked. "They broke into two GUN bases, went back to the moon, explored some forest that hasn't seen the flow of time since five thousand years ago, and not to mention, rescued us. We've been sitting here inside this ship for the greater part of a month!"

"Excuse me?" Meta Knight said. "While YOU, that silvite girl, and the Eskimos hid in here with that batty professor, Cloud and I staked out this country, trying to find help!"

"And what good has it done? I told you we should have just waited! You've changed, Meta Knight."

"I've grown stronger, Dragmire. Even stronger than you. You know that. It scares you." Meta Knight said in a strange voice.

"…" Ganondorf only looked at the star warrior in front of him._ He IS changed…What's going on? It's as he said. He is stronger than me now. He's PROVEN it against me…And the worst part is, I Am scared…_

"Let us go, Ganondorf." Meta Knight said. "We have allies to rescue. E. Gad!"

"Was somebody just shouting Egad, or do they need me?" The little professor asked, cackling with laughter.

"What condition is the auxiliary power supply in? Can the ship fly with the leftover energy it has?"

"Fina has proven reliable in helping me." E. Gad said. "Yes, meta Knight. The ship can fly, but I'm worried about the right side plasma jets-"

"Can it fly?"

"Yes, but my hypothesis is, with our right row of jets disabled, our left turning is going to be drastically affected, if we even have any at the moment."

"Alright. The ship's radar has located them by the library." Ganon said. "…Hmm, what's that…?"

"…" Meta Knight stared at the inexplicable bleep on the radar. "…Looks like we have an unidentified flying object." Meta Knight said. "It's a thousand feet above the library."

"WHAT'S above the library?" Matt asked suddenly. He was standing on the right side of the bridge, when he heard Meta Knight speak about the U.F.O. He was over to them in a flash. "What is it?"

"I don't know." Meta Knight said.

Suddenly, Matt, Link, Ness, Paul, Yoshi, Pichu, Cloud, Kirby, Paul, Luigi, and Meta Knight all felt at the same time a strange humming noise at the back of their minds.

The humming rose to a screaming pitch, and everybody fell over at the same time, holding their heads, and screaming. It felt like a ball of white hot fire had formed in the back of their skulls, and quickly grew to engulf the whole inside of their bodies.

Just as suddenly as it began, it ended. Matt's eyes opened back up, to see Ganon looking at him with concern.

"Uh…How long was I screaming?" Matt asked ruefully.

"For about five seconds, actually." Ganon grimaced. "If ZELDA screamed that loud when I kidnapped her, I'd never kidnap her again! It was that bad."

"…I hope it never happens again." Matt said. "It felt like taking a bath in super hot lava…"

"Bowser might like that." Ganon joked.

"Not THIS kind of pain." Matt said. "There was this…noise inside my head. Almost like a scream."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Ganon asked.

"We'll be fine." Meta Knight said, picking himself up off the floor. He looked slightly cross-eyed. "Right now we have more pressing matters."

SLAM!

"What's with all the screaming!?!?" Samus asked, standing in the doorway. "One moment, everybosy was fine, the next, it was like they had been tortured with something horrible! Luigi couldn't even speak!"

"That's Luigi we're talking about, Samus." Matt said.

"Oh…Right." Samus said. "There's something strange happening. My ship's sending me a warning about an unidentified creature flying above us, and it's also telling me the library is gone."

"Gone!?!?!" Everybody shouted in shock.

"Yeah, look for yourself." Samus said. She pressed a button on her helmet, and it projected an image of her ship's periscope. It had a long-distance camera pointed at a giant gaping hole in the clouds. The ship appeared to be flying in a circle around the hole.

"What the heck?" Matt said. "That Hole's at least half a mile across! What the heck happened? Wait! Is that-"

"Oh my…"

"E. Gad!" Meta Knight roared. "Get the ship started! We're leaving now!"

The professor hurried over to the controls of the ship, and whistled. A door opened to the left and the right, and a few waddle dees appeared.

"Get this ship up and running." Meta Knight ordered. "The right row of jets are jammed, so make compromises where necessary."

The waddle dees nodded, and quickly jumped over to their stations.

"…It's sad." Meta Knight said, speaking to Matt. "Most of the waddle crew perished in the crash. These are all the waddle dees left on the ship."

"How did you crash?" Matt asked.

"Still haven't figured that out." Meta said. "GUN was attacking us, and we lost their battle jets in this storm up here and we were going to camp for the night when we were hit by a giant bolt of lightning. There was a power outage, or something like that. The ship recovered, in time to be struck by a huge volley of rockets. The GUN planes caught up to us and we gunned them down. The ship took too much damage in the fight, and we had to crash land here in the coliseum. We were still wary of the black creatures we had encountered at the mansion, so we figured it was best to flood the stadium and submerge the ship while we repaired it from the inside. We've been here ever since."

"Well, your chance has come to get out and about a bit, hasn't it?"

"Indeed, it has." Meta Knight said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Roy screamed.

"Nobody can hear us, Roy! It's useless!" Dr. Mario said. "Just be patient!"

"But I'm scared, Doc!" Roy whined. "I'm s-scared!" Then he broke down sobbing, and gripped the doc's leg harder. "I want my mammy!"

It was still raining. It had been raining the whole time. Dr. Mario's clothes felt like freezing cold lead armor on his body. They weighed a ton to him, Roy wasn't helping, and if he didn't catch the flu from being out here so long, it would be a miracle.

Murphy's Law. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Right when you need it the most, that's when the thing you need fails you.

SNAP!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The two smashers screamed. The knife snapped right off its handle, leaving Dr. Mario with a useless metal knife handle in his hands. Quick as a flash he drew his last surgical knife and thrust it into the cloud wall. It tore through the clouds because it was too sharp, and the clouds were beginning to thin.

"CURSE THESE BLASTED SHARP PIECES OF KNIVES!" Dr. Mario screamed.

The knife sliced through thin air, and Dr. Mario's heart stopped as he looked down at the black abyss below. Everything went silent, and all he could hear was his own heartbeat.

As he looked down, he saw a black silhouette. It seemed familiar in a way, but panic took over him and he screamed. Loud.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Atop the Halberd…

Everybody but Meta Knight was on the deck.

They could see Dr. Mario and Roy now. The doctor was screaming his head off and thrashing about, and Roy was crying and sobbing, and holding onto the doctor's leg.

"We're in position." Meta Knight said over the phone. "It's up to you now."

"Let me handle this." Ganon said. He pushed everybody aside, and assumed a sumo-wrestling stance, perfect for catching falling people.

Dr. Mario and Roy quickly came within hearing range, and Ganon braced himself. If it had worked, he'd have caught them perfectly.

THUNK!

"OOF!" Ganon grunted. He lay sprawled on the deck, with Dr. Mario and Roy safe on top of him. The doc seemed to have regained his senses, and frowned dejectedly.

"I've gone and made a fool of myself." he sighed. "I'm afraid I lost my mind for a bit up there…"

"Oh, mommy!" Roy wailed, gulping air and crying with joy. "We're safe! WHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

"Chill, Roy." Yoshi said. "Everything's Ok."

"Yeah, you're safe now!" Ness said. "Get u-"

TINK!

The stinger fell out of his vest, and onto the deck with a tinkling noise. It scattered a few sparks as it settled, and little bits of electricity traveled across the deck.

"What in the name of Palutena is THIS?" Matt asked picking it up.

"We found it underneath the library. BEFORE it fell."

"It fell?" Link asked.

"I don't know why." Dr. Mario said, throwing his arms up in the air. "It just…caved in and went bye bye."

"Bye bye, wonderful books!" Roy sobbed.

"But…You found this under the library?" Matt asked again.

"Yes. It was in a cave at the base of the library. There was a monster sealed inside since the last dark lord lived, sometime during Master Hand's and Cress' adventures. It escaped."

"…WHAT escaped?" Samus asked, quiet.

"I found some runes…'Scorpio, the lord of lightning, the servant to the earth, bearer of darkness, and guardian of the sky'…"

"A whole bunch of titles, and for who, what is this Scorpio?" Bowser asked.

Matt and Fox suddenly exchanged significant looks.

"Oh No…" They both said, at the same time.

"It's another elemental demon!" Paul shouted, clapping his hands against his head and sighing. "Not again!" Yoshi went very light green, and started to sway dizzily.

"I don't know anything about these elemental demons, but it's going down!" Ganon said.

"Meta Knight!" Matt roared into his phone. "We have a crisis!"

"What!?!!? Did we miss catching the doctor and the fiery swordsman!?!?"

"No, they're fine. We caught them, but we have a rank A disaster on our hands!"

"No!"

"Yeah, it's as we said, Meta Knight! It's another one!"

"What should we do?"

"To avoid casualties, I'd say we need to fight it from a distance, bring it down so it can't do anything fishy to us or the ship."

"Well thought out. I apologize for my words to you earlier. We can talk more later, but for now, we have an Elemental Demon Lord to take down."

"Right! Meet you at the bridge!" Matt said. CLICK!

He shut his phone off, and turned towards everybody else.

"We're going back to the bridge." Matt said, tightening his grip on the stone stinger. "Me and Meta Knight have decided to fight the demon from afar. That way, nobody will get…hurt by it when we kill it."

"Understood!" Fox said. "Let's go, everybody!" He opened the hatch leading back into the ship's interior, and everybody dashed in to prepare for battle.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The door in the bridge opened up, and the smashers walked in. Meta Knight turned to face them.

"We have visual." Meta Knight said. He waved his hand at a device with eyepieces, and Link walked over to them to look.

At first, he couldn't see much, but his eyes adjusted after a bit. He could see a shadow moving among the clouds above, and every time lightning flashed, a slightly triangular silhouette could be seen.

"All the lightning seems attracted to it." Link commented. "I'm sure that's what we're looking for." He gasped when the shadow suddenly dived, and broke free of the cloud layer. It was a gigantic scorpion with ebony black armor that shone in the semi-darkness. It's four front legs were normal for a scorpion, but the rest of its legs were shaped like wings, which propelled it through the sky at incredible speed. Its claws were as big as two Bowsers, just the two closing parts on each claw. It was easily the size of a small ship. Lightning danced across its armor in a shower of sparks, and its stinger was long. Lightning coursed freely across its tail, and at the end was a giant yellow crystal stinger ten times the size of the stinger Matt was holding.

Speaking of Matt, when Meta Knight brought the periscope view up on screen, Matt dropped the stinger he was holding in shock, and gaped at the screen.

"T-t-that thing wouldn't even fit in the cave beneath the library!" Dr. Mario exclaimed. "How did it grow so fast!?!?!?"

"I don't care, as long as it dies even faster!" Ganon said. He ran to a set of controls, and put on a visor before grasping a few control sticks. On the side of the Halberd a laser cannon whirred to life, and aimed at the flying scorpion.

BEUM!

A streak of light shot across the sky and hit the scorpion with an explosion. The scorpion shook the smoke off, and headed right towards the ship, unharmed.

"Oh, crap." Ganon said.

"You should have not acted so hastily." Meta Knight said. Before anybody else could say anything, the scorpion rammed into the ship and knocked everybody off their feet. It rammed the ship again, and grabbed the siding with its oversized claws. It crushed the sides and ripped it off, and smashed the side cannon with its giant stinger. There was a sound like a thunderclap, and the cannon exploded in a shower of sparks.

"Drat!" Meta Knight yelled. "That cannon cost me a thousand smash coins! Good going, Dragmire!"

"Hey! I can't help the monster took a liking to your hardware!"

"You owe me, Ganon. Don't think I'll forget this!"

"This is a load of barnacles." Ganon huffed, throwing the useless visor aside.

CLANG!

"The demon is going topside." Fina reported, looking away from a screen. "It's headed for the deck!"

"If that thing gets inside we're toast!" Popo shouted. Nana grabbed him and hid behind him as the ship shook with the scorpion's weight.

"…We know what to do, everybody!" Paul said. "Let's go!"

"Be careful!" Fina called after them as they left. Cloud, the Ice Climbers, Dr. Mario, Roy, Yoshi, and Pichu stayed behind. "Aren't you going to help them out, Cloud?" Fina asked as she took off her headphones.

"They'll be alright without me." Cloud said stiffly.

"I hope so." Dr. Mario said.

"I still think enchanted gold hula hoops are scarier." Roy shuddered.

"Roy! Shut up!"

"Is he alright?" Fina asked worriedly. "And what's a hula hoop?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The deck door opened up, and Meta Knight and Samus were the first two out.

Meta's sword, Galaxia, was out and unsheathed, and the molten metal that indicated it was in its holy form glowed with a dull red light. Samus was decked out in her Athena Suit, and the crystals on her shoulder armor glowed with pent up power. Matt's gun glowed with its characteristic blue light, and his Emerald Blade lay in his right hand, poised for battle. Fox brandished his staff in his left hand, and held his blaster in his right. Kirby had the Star rod in his hand, and had a hungry look on his face. Luigi's Thor Hammer crackled with lightning, ready to smite evil with holy judgment. Paul's magic sword shone like a rainbow in the rain, and Bowser's adamantite claws sliced the air as their owner warmed up for battle. Ganon drew his crimson red sword of light, and grasped it with both of his hands.

The scorpion screeched, then jumped into sight. It hit the deck with all of its weight and knocked everybody over, and charged towards them with its super sharp spindly legs. The smashers got out of the way just in time as it rocketed past, and bowled into the gate leading to the inside of the ship. It tore through it like it was paper and stamped it into the ground as it passed it, completely trapping them up on the deck! It turned around and screeched triumphantly. And that was how the battle started.

Ganon, Matt, Meta, Bowser, and Link rushed Scorpio head on, forcing it to rear up and stab at them with its legs. It stabbed rapidly at them with ALL of its forelegs and forced them backwards while using its wing-legs to keep airborne. They tripped over the mangled ground and fell on their backs and Scorpio flew over them and went right for Kirby, Samus, Luigi, Paul, and Fox.

"This plan isn't working good." Samus said. "Run!" They split up and ran in different directions, confusing the demon for a moment. It decided Samus was the most dangerous, and pursued her relentlessly. It gained on Samus, who ran towards the communications antenna and ran up the side of it with her momentum. She was halfway up it when the demon crashed into it. Samus timed her jump so that when it hit the antenna, it bent backwards. She kicked off it and the antenna catapulted her way into the air. Scorpio aimed its stinger at her and all of the lightning on its body went up to its tail in a wave and it fired a massive plasma bolt. Samus utilized her boosting jets and swerved out of the way to avoid the lethal projectile, and smashed into its tail in a spinning drill kick. The demon's armor completely absorbed the blow, and it retaliated by sending a huge amount of voltage through Samus's suit.

The force of the shock sent Samus flying into a cannon where the impact knocked her senseless, and it fired another plasma bolt at her. Luigi slid in front of her and knocked the beam back at Scorpio with his hammer and the impact knocked it slightly off balance.

That was just enough time for Ganon to run in and hack off one of its limbs. The useless leg fell to the deck with a crash, and Ganon ran for his life. Link stepped in between Ganon and the scorpion and fired a bomb arrow at its maw, inflicting a good amount of pain on it. Link ducked under a giant claw the size of a wreaking ball and slashed it with his sword and rolled under one of its stabbing forelegs and got up right under its body. It slammed itself down on the ground, which Link avoided by rolling out from under it. While it was getting up he ran over to one of its wings, and with a well aimed swing removed the front right wing completely. It got back up as quickly as it could, and flew back to avoid Luigi swinging his hammer. It stabbed Luigi in the leg with one of its legs and before it could crush him with a pincer Bowser whirled past inside his shell and grabbed him.

THUNK!

The claw made a giant crater in the metal deck.

"How dare you ruin my ship!?!?!" Meta yelled. He flew right at the demon and dodged one of its lasers, and slashed it with his sword. It went right through the scorpion's armor and scorched the inside of its claw.

It screeched again and backed up. Then, a strange thing happened. The air filled with the strange humming noise from before, then the scorpion flashed and Meta Knight was sent away with a noise like a gunshot. He hit the ground beside Matt, and it only took one glance to see he was unconscious.

"What the heck?" Matt said. The scorpion started humming again, and Matt saw it was facing him he backflipped out of the way just in time. He could feel an invisible wave of energy shoot past him in the rain. It knocked the raindrops aside and left a bit of empty air, which quickly filled back with rain. "Samus!" Matt yelled. "Get a scan on this thing, and quick!"

"Got it!" Samus said. She got back up from where she hit the cannon, and limped away to a safe distance. Fox jumped up into the air with some help from his staff, and fired a whole bunch of boosted lasers at its wings. It shielded its wings with its legs and left its mouth unprotected, which Link shot another bomb arrow at. The explosion blew its mouth parts off and scattered them across the ground, causing the scorpion to shriek. Fox used his Fox Illusion attack and sliced past its side. Two of its right wings fell off and hit the ground with a clang, and Ganon used the chance to run up and hack the rest of the legs off on its right side. Bowser rolled past and tossed Luigi at its left side and he crushed a leg with his hammer. It made a thunderclap noise as it hit and the hammer smashed the leg to pieces. Bowser used his remaining momentum to spin up to the last leg, which he sawed in half with two quick and lethal slashes. The last leg fell to the ground in three pieces, leaving the scorpion with three more wings to keep it in the air. Paul rushed in and crushed a wing with a concussive blast of wind, and Kirby followed up with two quick successive star beams.

BOOM!

Scorpio screeched and flailed about, thrashing about on its belly and shaking the ship mercilessly. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as it backed up, balanced on its tail, and fell over backwards on the guard rail.

Samus never had the chance to get out of the way.

Scorpio fell on her and the deck with an ear-splitting crash, and it fell backwards over the side of the ship, Samus with it. Everybody ran over to the edge and watched in dumbfounded horror as she and the demon faded out of sight.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Samus found herself helplessly falling through the stormy sky, caught in the demon's turbulence. Escape was not an option at this point, so Samus decided to do what she did best.

"Time to exterminate!" Samus said. She cocked her cannon and thrusted towards the demon, which seemed to have gained something of a fragile balance while falling. She flew towards it and it fired a giant blast of lightning at her with its stinger. She grabbed its side with her grapple beam and swung around to dodge its beam, came up under its underside, and slammed herself right into its wounded side in morph ball mode. Samus activated her spider ball, which allowed her to stick to Scorpio's shell.

Her scan earlier, which she finished just before Scorpio fell on her, revealed its armor was weak against concussive blasts, and that its electrified shell was magnetic…

Samus rolled up onto its back and stood up on Scorpio's back. It was broad enough to use as a small battle arena, and Samus as going to need all the room she could get. Scorpio screeched and sent a wave of lightning through its shell towards Samus. She dodged it by jumping over it and then she fired her missiles at its claws and cracked their armor. It swung a claw up and tried to smash her up against its back, and she jumped over it and landed on top of the claw. The demon channeled the energy wave from earlier into its tail, and focused the lightning into a beam. Samus jumped over the beam and instead it hit the claw and blew it up in an explosion. She fired a super missile at the tail and knocked it backwards and made it miss her again before it could hit her. She curled into her morph ball and rolled along to its underside to avoid the leftover claw, and planted a row of morph ball bombs along its belly. Samus swung back up topside and kicked the tail away with a spin kick and wrapped her grapple beam around the end just as the bombs all exploded and made a fissure in its belly armor.

Black blood started to pour from its belly wounds, and Scorpio was livid, and in major pain. It thrashed its tail about to shake Samus off and batter her around, but she held tight and shot missiles at every single part of it she could aim at. Scorpio finally bent its tail over its back and reached to pluck Samus off its tail and crush her in its claw, but she jumped off and instead it grabbed its own tail and tore off the end. Samus fired another super missile at the claw and removed it from the body. She landed on its back as Scorpio started charging the last of its energy into its tail.

"You want to go out with a bang? You got it!" Samus cried. She switched to her wave beam and charged up a massive amount of lightning, and waited for the right moment. Right when Scorpio fired a massive lightning bolt from its tail, Samus countered with a super charged Wavebuster attack, and the two beams of lightning fused into one giant beam of plasma with a ball of unstable lightning in the middle. Push came to shove, and Samus was giving it her all. She emptied the rest of her suit's energy reserves into her arm cannon, which glowed like a star. Even though Samus was fighting with every last drop of her energy, the demon's big blue bolt of lightning was still winning against her thin and powerful purple lightning bolt. The ball of lightning was slowly being pushed towards her, when she screamed with exertion.

Something inside her snapped, and the little bubble of phazon inside her body started to swell. Samus could feel the phazon radiation begin to overwhelm her, and she activated her Hyper mode. Her body flashed like a gigantic light, and her whole suit crusted over with phazon crystals. Her shielding started crashing, and any moment her suit was going to fail. Her Wavebuster grew in size and stopped the ball of plasma, and continued growing and pushed the ball of plasma back towards Scorpio at an increasing rate of acceleration.

The ball of plasma hit Scorpio's tail and blasted its whole body with millions of volts of lightning just as Samus's power suit failed and lost control. The lightning completed its circuit, using Samus as its amplifier. Her suit glowed like a star and shone super bright, blasting the clouds away with its brightness. Then followed a horrifyingly loud cacophony of thunder crashes. Lightning from everywhere hit Samus and Scorpio, lighting them both up and turning them into glowing ball of light.

They broke free of the last layer of clouds, and just before Samus lost consciousness she saw the ground rush up to meet them.

They hit the ground, and instantly there was a huge explosion with a radius of about ten miles. The whole sky lit up with the flash, and the explosion blew away the lower layer of clouds. Lightning danced freely across the ground from the crater where Samus landed.

Inside, Samus lay amidst a pool of black blood that used to belong to Scorpio, mixed with phazon. The phazon grew over her prone body and crystallized to form a shell. It filled up with the blood and liquid phazon, completely sealing Samus inside a chrysalis.

Samus's life support went critical.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ha ha! So…yeah, what happens next? The smashers won against another demon, at the cost of a friend.**

**What are they thinking? Is Samus going to live? Will Meta Knight's insurance company ever pay for his ship? Again, what's next?**

**Tell me what you think, and I'll update soon with a short chappy!**

**(Guess what, I typed this chapter up in ONE day!) HA! Beat that, peeps. Kidding. I'm just dedicated. I hope you all had as much fun reading this chapter as I had writing it! Thanks for reading!**

**I'll see you all next time, so take care! Good bye for now!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	36. His Plans

**I'm back, with a short and quick update! This isn't going to be a big chapter, but it'll…unveil something.**

**Do the smashers even know what they are doing? Have they even considered that they are falling for a trap…?**

**Thank you everybody for reading and keeping up with this story! Hopefully this one will end up being even bigger than my first story, and with the average length my chapters are reaching, that's a good possibility. A VERY good possibility. I can't even guess how many chapters it's going to end up being, but we'll see.**

**Now, for a short…uh, spoiler chapter? Spoiler chapters, in MY stories, are ones that reveal something important. You people won't believe how much there is that you don't know. BWA HA HA! Don't be offended by what I just said, what I mean is, there's so many twists, so many secrets, and just so many things still undiscovered.**

**Let's peel the paper away from one of those secrets now.**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Back at the GUN Main Base…

At a currently unknown set of coordinates, a giant military facility lay hidden in one of the remotest regions of Ivalice.

The base lay spread out over a couple miles of forest, and at this point in time it is the largest army base in the galaxy. It is here that the main offices of the GUN military, the Galactic Space Federation, The (not so much) Cornerian Armada, the Valuan (Not by Emperor Enrique's permission, either.) Armada, and a couple more agencies gathered from around the planet.

They all shared the same sky and planet, so why not share a base, as well?

GUN quickly hit the top of the ladder of authority and kicked everybody down a few pegs. They were officially in charge of the new world government, with the GUN commander in charge of everything.

That was exactly what he wanted. And it was going to stay that way.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The GUN commander sat in his swivel chair. You'd think the 'king' of the world would want a throne, but all he wanted was his office. It was from there where he dictated his orders, directed battles against rebels such as the Super Smash Brothers, and…well…Played at being tyrant. Not that he needed to try hard.

The GUN commander was reading a few reports sent to him from a few of the world leaders, people who ruled their former planets and basically reported to him to avoid getting in deep trouble with the government. They were nothing but slaves to his whims.

The commander tossed aside a report from the emperor of Valua, Prince Enrique. It was a formal complaint about Galcian taking charge, and also a demand that he be released from his room.

"That pitiful traitor should never have joined the smashers anyways." The commander huffed. He was being kept in his room as a prisoner of war. The moment he returned to his home, about a day after the attack on the mansion, he was arrested and shut inside the palace. His wife was still missing, and he complained about that too.

He also tossed aside a similar complaint from the ruling twins of Renais. They too were smashers, and even guiltier than Enrique was. He expected to have them executed soon, as an example. Same with Eliwood and Lyndis. They were all in the way of world peace and unison.

_And what about that rumor concerning Crown Prince Lyon?_ He was supposed to be dead, and yet, people have claimed to see him sneaking around the swamps in Grado territory. There was a chance he was involved with those dratted smashers as well, seeing as he was a friend of Ephraim and Erika. If he was even alive.

Peach was still holed up inside her castle…She deserved something a little more special…

"HA HA HA!" The commander laughed. He suddenly had an idea. One very much to his liking. Nobody expected him to pay her a personal visit, did they?

He pressed a button on his desk, which activated a speaker on his desk.

"Yes, Commander?" the man on the other side asked.

"I wish to pay Princess Toadstool a personal visit. Prepare me a ship."

"Sir! That is far too risky!" The soldier on the other end exclaimed. "What if those smashers get you!? They might smash you! I'll go ahead and send an envoy-"

"No, soldier. I just require a ship, and a very trustworthy officer to come with me. While we're at it, can you fly a ship?"

"Uh, yes…"

"Splendid! You may be the pilot. Have the ship prepared in docking bay 29 in ten minutes. You better be there."

"Sir-"

CLICK!

The plan was set. Time to move the King on the chessboard and take out the enemy's Queen.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"…" Peach was standing in a room near the top of the main tower in Castle Toadstool, looking out across the forest through a stained glass window. The window had a picture of her stained across a few of the glass panels. It was pretty, but it wasn't like she was self centered. Toadsworth insisted on having the windows made!

"Oh, Toadsworth…" Peach sighed. Such an excitable little toad.

"Princess! Princess!" Toadsworth yelled from the staircase.

"Yes, Toadsworth?" Peach asked.

"It's those GUN people!" Toadsworth shouted in a panic. "They landed a ship, and their commander is asking for permission to enter!"

"What? Why would the commander visi-" Peach wondered. She cut her thought short and looked at Mario, who sat on one of the window sills across the room. He was still trapped in a Rabid's body, and Peach couldn't help but think he looked silly.

Mario turned to face her, and looked at her through his bright blue eyes.

_At least his eyes haven't changed._ Peach thought. "What do you think, Mario?"

"Mamma mia!" He said, shaking his head.

"I know something bad is going to happen too, Mario, but I can't just deny him entrance. I mean, he IS in charge of the new government and all…"

"…Mamma mia…" Mario sighed.

"Well, Toadsworth, I think there's nothing to do at this point in time, but to let him in." Peach said.

"But, your Majesty-"

"Please, Toadsworth, what else could go wrong?" Peach said. "If he's here to capture us, the day was going to come someday. At least Luigi and the others aren't here. They're our last hope."

"…Yes, Peach…" the old toad sighed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Peach, Mario, and Toadsworth stood in the castle's lobby area, in the middle of the sun pattern on the floor. Ahead of them was the main doors. Toads were outside lowering the drawbridge. Peach thought it odd that only the commander, and officer, and a pilot had come. He…couldn't be here to attack. Was it just a visit?

The doors opened, and the commander and his two companions strode in. The commander was dressed in his usual blue military uniform, decked with his medals. He looked at peach through his unmatched eyes, and smiled.

"Princess Toadstool! How gracious of you to admit me to your castle." He said, bowing politely. Peach returned the courtesy respectfully.

"Welcome, Commander." Peach said. "What, may I ask, brings you by to visit?"

"Business, Princess Peach." The commander smiled widely. "Business, business, business. Us rulers are always so busy, aren't we?" He asked.

"Yes, of course…" Peach said uncertainly. "Is…there something important you wished to speak to me about?"

The commander's face instantly hardened, and his smile vanished. The doors slammed shut, and for a moment, the light flickered inside the room. Very subtly, the pilot and the officer backed away from the commander. Mario stood in front of Peach and put up his fists, which didn't look very threatening. In fact, the plumber looked comical.

"HA HA HA!" The commander laughed loudly. "You smashers never fail to impress me. Princess, you may drop the act."

"I will!" Peach yelled angrily. "Why did you come!? Nothing good will come of interrogating me!"

"Oh, no?" The commander smiled darkly. "I think not. I must thank you, though, Peach. Next time you see any of your friends, if you even recognize them, I wish you to pass on a message!"

"…"

"I wanted to say…Thank you."

"For WHAT?!"

"Mamma mia!?!?!"

"Silly, Silly, SILLY!" The commander bellowed out a deep laugh. "Oh, how I love it when my little puppets are clueless! HA HA HA! Tell your friends this! 'You're playing right into my hands! by all means, keep doing so!' That, is what I wish for you to tell them!"

"I beg to differ, Commander! This is not a game!"

"Princess, Princess…" The commander mocked a soothing voice. "Who said we were playing a game?"

"…Y-you…Y-You're insane!" Peach said, gasping.

In response, the commander smiled, and stood back up from his kneeling position.

Peach almost screamed when she saw the man's forehead melt away, and reveal a big golden crystal stuck in his bared skull shaped like an eye.

"Peach, it IS a game to me." The commander said in a strange voice. "There is nothing in this universe that can stop me. Nothing. As we speak, your little friends are running around, doing my dirty work! MY dirty work!"

"Have you anything else to say before you kill me?" Peach whimpered.

"Who said I was going to kill you? I'm enjoying this too much!" The commander laughed. "But if I tell you anything else, I'll be telling you something else too much. If your 'friends' ever rescue you, the whole game will be spoiled! No, for now, we are done…You'll be coming with me, Peachy! And your prince charming, too! I wonder if he'll turn back into a plumber if a dementor kisses him…"

"A WHAT?" Peach yelled.

"Oh, nothing." The commander smiled. "I have a friend waiting to be introduced to you. I believe you've met before…I wonder if you've missed each other?"

Peach's eyes widened in shock as the Commander walked towards her, and the last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was looking into the golden eye on his skull.

It looked right back.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**I'll leave it there. I've accomplished my goal for today, so, yeah…I don't have anything to say.**

**If this chapter seems confusing to you, GOOD! If you've figured something out, even cooler. I'm not asking any questions at the end like I do sometimes. I'm pretty sure you people are coming up with theories already about what's going on.**

**I'm also pretty sure you're wrong, too. I don't think I've left you enough clues, but I'm willing to listen if you wanna send me a PM! (If you WANT to talk.)**

**Well, that's all for today! If I don't get in an update during this next school week, expect an update next weekend, but I don't plan to keep you waiting THAT long.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and expect an update soon! (DEFINITELY within a week. No more month waits!)**

**I'm back in the mood to type, and if I don't get slammed with homework, that's just what I'll do! (Thankfully, I have EASY classes this semester of school! Weeeell…three easy classes. AP Literature and Composition will most likely be a pain, and the teacher I have for that class is a Good teacher. Meaning, yes, I will get plenty of work from her.)**

**Take care, everybody, and see you next time! **

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	37. Sorrow and Hope

**MAN alive, you people must be mad at me for doing what I did to Samus. If you skipped last chapter, you just cheated yourself of a very important scene, and if you skipped the chapter BEFORE that you cheated yourself of an awesome battle scene.**

**So, my lazies, if you skipped the last two chapters…GO READ THEM!**

**And, if you have been keeping up with everything, read on, me peeps! Read on. Now, what will the next arc be? It's time to…**

**(Pause) Yesh, let me sneak a note in or two. I just wanted to say thanks again for reading and reviewing! Makes me much happy. I'll put in a disclaimer next chapter, 'bout time a put in one, because I can't remember the last time I even HAD one!**

**Let's-a Go!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO **

-Skies in Angel Land-

Back at the Halberd, everybody waited for the heroes to make it back inside. The atmosphere was tense inside the bridge: everything had gone quiet. That meant for outside the bridge, too. Were the smashers smashed? Was the scorpion sneaking up on them? Did they win?

All these thoughts swirled through the crew's heads, but none of them were answered.

Everybody's heads shot up when the door hissed, and the tired and beaten fighters entered. At first, nobody noticed their depressed and tear stained faces.

"We won!" Roy yelled jubilantly.

"WAHOO!" The ice Climbers hoorayed. They jumped in the air and gave each other a high five, and started dancing across the bridge like springs.

"We were hunting that thing for awhile." Cloud said, shaking Matt's hand. "I still can't believe you all took it out so fast."

"…"

Everyone went quiet all of a sudden.

"Eight…nine…Where's Samus?" Fina asked quietly.

"…S-She fell overboard!" Luigi wailed, breaking down. He fell down on his knees and tried to hold himself up off the ground, but the weight of his grief overcame him, and he sprawled on the metal floor, sobbing hysterically.

"Then why didn't one of you retrieve her?" Cloud asked.

"We were taken by surprise…and after we regained our senses, we wouldn't have caught up with her anyways." Link sniffed.

"Scorpio fell over the edge, and knocked her off." Matt said, trying not to let his eyes leak. "It's exactly what we tried to avoid. You see, these demons…affect us somehow. I can't tell at all. Whenever we kill one of them, they infect us with their darkness, and lately, strange things have been happening to us. I'm starting to wonder about the wisdom of even fighting these demons. It's too risky. Even if Samus won against Scorpio, there's no telling what it did to her."

"So you're sure she's…dead?" Cloud asked hesitantly.

"Cloud, Samus's life support system and linked to her ship." Matt said. "I used Samus' password and accessed the computer's most recent scan…And Cloud, as much as I hate it to be true…She's not breathing, Cloud. In fact, she's doing nothing.

She's Dead."

The room went silent. Completely. Nobody moved, not an arm, a leg, a finger, or even an eye. They just stared.

"She…She's never coming back. After all of this time, we fought together, battling evil, rescuing our world, our universe, from destruction." Fox said. "Little did we ever think about the costs. Think, now, everybody. Samus was our friend, and she was most assuredly one of the strongest of us all, and one of these unknown fiends killed her. She was alone. I think…to have died in battle was the way she wanted to go."

"Everybody, we're strongest together." Paul said, still with red eyes. "I don't doubt Samus' strength, but she was alone, without any help. I think I can see part of our enemy's goal. I KNOW, we ALL know that there are people out there that want us dead. None of us ever died before, because we were together. If we separate now, which of us will be next? Samus died honorably, but she still died…"

"We can't give up!" Matt said. "Not now. I will not allow Samus to have died in vain. We may never fully achieve everlasting peace, but, I'll never stop fighting for it! Now's the time, Smashers! Rise from the ashes! Rise from the earth! We're never going to give in, Never! Fight for the better tomorrow! Fight for your families! Fight for the innocent!"

"GUN, these stupid black Demons, they'll all pay." Ganon said darkly. "We're going to get to the bottom of this mess, and none of them are going to walk away victorious. Not when I still draw breath! FOR SAMUS!!!"

"FOR SAMUS!" Bowser roared.

"FOR SAMUS!!!" Link yelled.

"FOR SAMUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Everybody shouted.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

They waited a few days. Hearts were still heavy with sorrow, and news had to be spread.

Fox was the one who told Crazy the bad news. Crazy Hand disappeared into the computer's programming, sobbing dispiritedly. He didn't reappear for a couple of days, and that inevitably made their stay at Angel Land longer.

After Crazy Hand came back, everybody held a small funeral in Samus' honor in the Halberd's bridge. The Smashers spent the next few days repairing the Halberd and bringing it back to top shape. The waddle crew helped out tremendously, and with a week's hard work most of the Halberd was up and running…

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Down in the hold…

Bang bang bang bang bang

Fox aimed the hammer one more time, and the stubborn bolt went back in all the way. He dropped the gigantic black hammer on the ground, and took a quick breather.

The Hammer was a leftover of the good ol' days, a tool Fox was not all that fond of. He could still remember Bowser KO'ing him with one in one of their last tournaments.

Fox looked at the bolt he had just hammered in. He was in the underside of the Halberd, punching back in loose bolts to make sure the lower hull didn't drop away, and it was hard work! He could still hear Bowser breathing fire about a hundred feet along the path: he was busy welding the broken metalwork back together with his firebreath.

It was just amazing. They focused on all their fighting so much, and when the chance for them to be useful doing other stuff came around, darn they were a good team!

Except Link, Fox thought. All he was good at was crashing ships and blowing up bad guys with his incredible arsenal of medieval weaponry. Oh well, what else could you do?

Fox picked up the hammer and was about to take another swing when Fox sensed a falling object and dashed out of the way, just in time to avoid being smashed by a giant, oversized bolt cannon made for putting bolts in metal support beams.

"Sorry!" Ganon yelled from way above, on top of a metal service walkway. He was bolting a support back up that had lost all of its bolts.

"Watch it, will ya?" Fox asked as kindly as he could. "Things are dangerous enough as it is without you trying to kill people!"

"Yeah!" Link chimed in. "You're better at killing people when you're trying NOT to, than when you are trying to! Just look at me!" Link said, pointing at himself. "I'm a prime example!"

"That's because you're too stupid to know when to die." Ganon countered playfully. "You're just too blonde!"

"Hey!" Link said. "Why're you picking on me, anyhow? Pick on Roy!"

"No, because Roy will cry, and then I'll feel bad." Ganon said smugly. "At least you can take it like a man."

"Mommy!"

"Or not." Ganon sighed, getting back to his work.

"Alright, everybody." Meta called out over the speaker system. "That's enough work for today. I think we've repaired this rust bucket enough to get it off the ground one last time, so go ahead and sleep for the rest of the night. We leave come dawn."

"Thank you!" Fox shouted, dropping the hammer and mock worshiping Meta.

"Ok, that's enough, McCloud." Meta said, slightly amused. "Get yourselves some rest, we've all had a trying amount of time, and you all can't possibly be recovered yet."

"We'll…manage, I think." Fox said quietly. "But the sleep's definitely appreciated."

"Good. If you don't hurry and secure your bed, a waddle dee might get it and then you'll be sleeping in the brig."

"No thanks!" Fox said, dashing away.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-The next morning-

"The ship's powering up nicely, Meta." Fox said, sitting down at the controls. "The propulsion system is working at eighty percent, the rudder is responsive, and all systems are online."

"I must be dreaming…You said eighty percent?" Meta asked, surprised.

"Yes…"

"Then you did a most EXCELLENT job repairing the plasma engine!" Meta said.

"Hey, that was me!" Matt said from across the room, working at his computer terminal.

"Oh, yes…Good job, Matthew." Meta said.

"I prefer being called Matt." Matt said.

"Yes, yes, whichever you like most." Meta said idly. "Prepared for liftoff?"

"Ready when you are, 'captain.'" Fina said.

"…I wish we could go back and get Samus' body…" Fox said. "She deserves more than just being left here to…rot."

"Fox, I understand your sympathies. I really do." Meta Knight said. "But that layer of clouds were flying above was too dangerous to attempt flight through. The lightning down there would have shorted the ship's circuits for sure, and if we were lucky enough to not get shocked to death, the winds would rend the ship and tear it to pieces."

"Oh…"

"We will come back someday, Fox." Meta said. "We will come back and treat her with the respect she is due, but for now, let us avenge her."

"Aye, I'm with you all the way on that." Bowser said. "By the way, has anybody thought about where we should go next?"

"Remember Mario?" Paul said. "Those rabbids turned him into a wonky rabbit, and since we know nothing about that kind of magic…I was thinking…"

"Thinking what?" Ganon asked. "If you're thinking about me, no, I don't know how to transform stuff. If I did, Link would be a bug right now, somewhere. And I would have squished him a long time ago!"

"No, not you." Paul said. "I have an acquaintance that lives in Radiant Garden. He might know a way we can help Mario return to his normal form!"

"Really? You never mentioned this before." Matt said. "Why now, instead of before?"

"Hey! I can't help it if I can't remember everything when I need to." Paul said. "My brain holds a lot of knowledge, but it's nowhere near as smart as yours, Matt! Cut me some slack…"

"Whoa whoa whoa! Take it easy. I didn't mean it that way. Still, who is this guy?"

"His name's Merlin." Paul said. "He knows pretty much everything there is to know about magic, so he could help us out a ton."

"Should we go visit this Merlin, then, everybody?" Matt asked. "It sounds reasonable."

There was a chorus of yeses.

"Ok, Crazy Hand!" Matt called out. The windshield of the bridge went black, then Crazy's image popped up.

"Yeshers, Matt!" Crazy said. "Ya want coordinates to Radiant Garden, I hear?"

"Yes. Do you know where to find it?" Matt asked hopefully.

"Uh…guh…No." Crazy said hesitantly.

"Huh?"

"I don't know." Crazy said. "Never heard of the place."

"Oh." Matt sighed. "Great. Thank you though, Crazy."

"I sowwe I couldn't help out." Crazy apologized. "Is there some other place you'd like to go?"

"Not at the moment." Matt shook his head. "By the way, how do you like the Halberd?"

"Dude, I love it!" Crazy said. "I feel like a million muscles! If I had all this muscle, the gloves would have swarmed me back home!"

"Uh, G-GLOVES?" Matt asked, confused.

"You wouldn't understand." Crazy said in a mock stuffy voice.

"Uh, Yeah? Girls?" Matt shrugged.

"Aw, Man! How'd you figure dat out?!"

"Easy." Matt said.

"I got an idea!" Paul suddenly yelled. "HA HA!"

"Have you gone insane!?" Link yelled in shock.

"No, no!" Paul said, all smiles. "He he, oooh, this is GOOD! Wait till you hear THIS!"

"Lay it on us, then." Roy said. "Is it cool?"

"Oh, YEAH. Very." Paul said. "Let's just say I know another way of getting to Radiant Garden! Matt, you're an extremely good hacker, right?"

"One of the best there is!" Matt smiled smugly.

Paul reached into his vest with his right hand, and after a tiny bit of rummaging around in a pocket he pulled out a purple card.

"Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!" Paul read out.

"Hollow Bastion!? What does THAT have to do with Radiant Garden?" Ganon asked.

"Hollow Bastion was the name for Radiant Garden after Maleficent took over about eleven years ago. Leon, Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and a couple of other people started rebuilding Radiant Garden back to its former glory after the witch was defeated. Me and Sora were there about a couple of months ago, and Leon gave us these." Paul said, pointing at his card. "Needless to say, we had access to places other people weren't allowed to go, and other stuff like that. ANYWAYS, they have a website, and in a lab at the castle there, there's a super high tech computer there with a laser like ours."

"So, you're saying-" Matt started to say.

"Yes, Matt. We're going to have to travel through the internet, and I'm going to need you to hack into Radiant Garden's server, Matt, and get us into that computer! I have a friend there that can take over after that."

"Whoa, just how many people do you know there?" Matt wondered in awe.

"More than enough people, THAT'S for sure." Paul sighed. "So…You in, or what?"

"In? In!? This sounds awesome!" Matt said. "I'd have to be a super whack job to say no! Crazy, what do you think?"

"Worth a shot! After all, you guys are the ones with the brains!" Crazy said, shrugging the way only a hand could.

"Matt, be careful." Paul said. "We're only safe as long as you keep away virus programs and stuff. If we get deleted, we cease to exist."

"Yeah, I kinda figured." Matt said as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Of course we can fight back, and you may not believe it, but computers are worlds in themselves. I've been in one before. It'll be very similar to our world, everybody, but then there are also plenty of differences. Who all wants to come?"

"I want to!" Bowser said.

"Bowser, I hate to say it, but I don't think that will work." Paul sighed, shaking his head.

"Huh!? Why not!?!?" Bowser growled indignantly.

"You'd get caught in a narrow bandwidth somewhere." Paul said. "Like some websites can only load in a certain amount of data at a time? Think of a bandwidth as a tunnel. Too big for the tunnel, forget it!"

"Aw…Can I go if I use a poison mushroom?" Bowser asked hopefully.

"Nooooo…That won't help, either." Paul said. "You'd just delete half of yourself, and you'd stay shrunk for the rest of your life."

"Ok, count me OUT!" Bowser said.

"Sorry, Bowser." Paul said sincerely. "It'd be great to have you along, but it just wouldn't work. Is anybody else interested, though?"

"Beam me up, Scotty!" Roy said, throwing a silly salute.

"You might need a little bit of muscle, eh?" Ganon said, showing off his biceps.

"…I'll go with you." Dr. Mario said.

"And I as well. If Leon's there, I need to speak with him." Cloud said.

"I would like to see Radiant Garden." Fina said. "It sounds like it's beautiful."

"We wanna go!" The Ice Climbers said.

"PoHOYo!" Kirby squealed.

"I'm going too." Yoshi said. "I have to make sure nothing bad happens. I've finally accepted my…abilities. I'll help out as best as I can!"

"Ok, is everybody else ok with staying here, then?" Paul asked.

"I guess so." Matt said. "Since this is your plan, Paul, you're in charge. Just make sure you don't mess up."

"That word isn't in my vocabulary!" Paul said confidently. "…Ok, yeah, it is, but there's no way I'm going to mess up."

"Alright, then." Matt said. "Let's get set up. Meta Knight, what's the password to your internet service?"

"If you don't mind, allow me to type it in." Meta Knight said. "No offense, Matt, but you aren't exactly the sort I'd trust with my passwords."

"Eh, good point, but I'm on your side." Matt said. "Here." He pushed his swivel chair back and got up out of it to let Meta sit in it. Meta scooted up to the computer, and in a couple of seconds hooked his computer up to the internet.

"You all are going to have to go down to the gummi ship in the hold." Meta Knight said. "We don't have a laser on the Halberd, but the ship's linked to my internet. Matt, if you will?"

"Yes, yes, I can do my magic from there." Matt said. "I think I'd do it best there anyways, know what I mean?"

"Yes, of course." Meta said. "Time is of the essence, so let's start."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-In the Gummi Ship's Cockpit-

Matt was on the computer, setting it up and getting it ready to absorb his allies.

"Meta?" Matt called the star warrior over his phone. "We have a slight problem!"

"What now, Matthew?"

"It's-Oh, never mind. Anyways, we don't have enough power. Apparently it takes a whole lot more energy to stick somebody in the internet than to do hologram battles."

"So you need me to have my ship give your ship a boost?" Meta asked.

"That about sums it up." Matt said.

"Pichu!" Pichu said, pointing at herself.

"Huh?" Matt asked. "You'll hurt yourself, Pichu. Are you sure you want to?"

"PI PI CHU!" Pichu insisted.

"I understand what you mean." Matt said, touched. "You've got guts, Pichu, and that's exactly the kind of stuff we're going to need these next couple of months. I appreciate it."

"Pichu!"

--------------------------------------

A few minutes later, Pichu was hooked up to some cables attached to the gummi ship's reactor, and Meta also had a few wires from one of his ship's power lines to help kick start the laser.

"Are you all ready, then?" Matt called out to everybody.

"Yeah, about as ready as ever…" Paul said, slightly uncertain and squirming slightly.

"You still want to do this?" Matt asked. "We're not making you do this, you know."

"But it has to be done." Paul insisted. "You said yourself that it's guts we need the most, right? Well, it's guts you'll get then!"

"Ok." Matt said. "When I count to three, I'm going to hit this button, and all of you will be broken down into little bits of computer data and reassembled inside this computer. It'll be quick and painless."

"I'm scared." Roy shivered. Fina put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and he relaxed a little.

"Ok, stand straight and still, everybody!" Matt said. "Don't touch anybody else, no idea what will happen, so stay…still! One…two…"

"THREE!"

The lights in the ship flared white with the boost of power from Pichu and the Halberd, and then the lights went out. The console in the middle of the room glowed and revealed the laser beam gun, which charged up. It scanned everybody once, and they froze completely. Blue geometric lines shaped like cubes surrounded everybody, with four squares breaking each person up into four sections. The cubes formed grids as Matt and Fox watched, and then the laser whipped over the grid spaces at high speed, breaking each person up into pixels and absorbing them. In about ten seconds the laser scanned the last row of data and shut off.

Matt and Fox couldn't see it happening, but inside the computer world, little bits of data flew together and reformed into the nine smashers.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Now it's all up to them, I suppose." Matt said.

"Feels kinda odd, just sitting here and doing nothing." Fox sighed.

"Well, just keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best, I'd say."

"They'll get there." Fox said. "Don't worry. After they get there they can send us the coordinates and we can meet up with them!"

"…Oh no!" Matt said suddenly.

"What?" Fox asked.

"We should have thought this through a bit more!" Matt groaned. "We won't be able to pick them back up on this end if things go foul!"

"Huh, why?" Fox asked.

"Look, they're going to an actual destination, right? A server in Radiant Garden. That's a definite location. Then they get into that computer they were talking about, and get beamed out."

"So how can they NOT get beamed back here?" Fox asked.

"We don't support any servers or anything. We do not have a 'definite' location, we're the ghost ship that appears every once in a while. One way road."

"Oh, nuts." Fox said.

"Yeah, whatever happens now is pretty much out of our control." Matt said. "I better get started now, if I want to crack that computer's defenses before they get to it. Otherwise it'll delete them!"

"Can I help?" Fox asked.

"I wish, but no." Matt said. "If I think of anything, I'll let ya know. Other than that, just make sure I don't fall asleep." Matt said. "It's going to be a long night."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**That's all for tonight, peeps!**

**I don't know what to say to any of you, other than just wait and let events unfold. Please, don't hate me…please!**

**'Nuff of that, anyhow. I gotta go to bed, and I'll update again soon! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you next time! Thanks for reading.**

**With that said, Adieu, and please Review…**

**-Shining riku-**


	38. Space Paranoids

**Ok…Let's see. What should I say in a disclaimer?**

**Samus: Let me handle THAT for you.**

**Huh? Why you?**

**Samus: Because I say so. You kill me, or something like that, and I'll do worse to you if you don't give me something to do.**

**Riiiight…Who in their right mind, dead or alive, would want to do a disclaimer?**

**Samus: Shining Riku does not own anything but the plot, his OC, Paul, and that's about it. Jun Belongs to Supersmasher025, Felix belongs to Nintendogeek01, Aliana belongs to Kbxshadow, Matt belongs to slam422, Xanxi belongs to Xanxi, and all of everything else belongs to their respective owners. All rights are reserved, and if I forgot anything, keep in mind Sr here is responsible.**

**CLICK!**

**WHOA! Don't aim that at me!**

**Samus: So…Let's sort this out now, then, shall we? Remember, everybody, if I forgot something, it's his fault!**

**Ooooh…You're EVIL!**

**Samus: I know. Now, say bye bye like a good boy!**

**AAAAAAAAAAAHHH! (Pause) Anyways, everybody, if I'm lucky I'll see ya at the end of the chapter. Thank you all for reading and reviewing! I'm having a blast writing these chapters, and it's OH so much fun to come up with good or cool ideas! Oh, yeah, if it's even possible, please don't let Samus kill me!**

**Samus: Hey, guess what? I can pause time too now!**

**Oh snot.**

**Samus: Say "Night Night!"**

**AAAAAAAAHHHH!!**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

The data world is very much different than ours, and yet, in some ways…It's EXACTLY the same way.

A beam of blue light shot down from the sky and hit the blue road, and after a second nine silhouettes appeared in thin air. They hung there in the air for a few seconds, forming a three-dimensional outline, and then they started to fill out at an incredibly quick rate.

Soon, the nine smashers were standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk, surrounded by tons of people. There were lots of buildings, all with signs on them, signs like "Yahoo!", "Google", and a few other widely recognizable places. Some of the buildings were ridiculously huge, and towered way above the rest of the buildings while reaching for the clouds.

It was a lot like New York, but the only difference, was, well, EVERYTHING.

Pretty much everything was a shade of blue, but not all of it, the clouds up in the sky were pixilated and square shaped, and the biggest difference, was the people.

Everybody's skin was a pale, slight blue-grey color, and all of them had on grey colored suits almost like diving suits, except they covered the whole body, and had glowing blue lines scattered across them that little lights traveled around them.

The smashers took a few seconds to take all of this in, then they looked at themselves and went silent with shock. Their skin was the same bluish hue, and they had on radically different looking clothes. Their suits were basically the same as before, only they were completely grey colored, and with the blue lines running up and down them everywhere.

"Wow." Yoshi finally said, looking at himself. "This is just too strange!"

"I know what you mean." Paul said seriously. "I was surprised the first time I came here, too. Anyways, see all these people here, everybody? They're actually programs. They work like we do, back in the real world. We blend in with them, so we're pretty safe for now."

"Interesting." Dr. Mario said, looking around.

"I've never been inside a computer before." Cloud said, slightly impressed. "This is all new to me."

"Most of us haven't been inside one, either." Fina replied. "This is new for almost all of us."

"Don't worry, I can get us to Radiant Garden." Paul said.

"I feel blue." Roy sighed. "...I LOOK blue."

"Why do you feel blue?" Dr. Mario asked.

"I dunno." Roy said while scratching his hair. "I guess it's because I'm blue or something." Roy kept scratching his hair, inching up towards the top of his head, until his hand bumped up against something metal. "Huh?"

He felt his head, and there was a skin-tight helmet attached right to his scalp.

"What's this thing?" He asked, pointing at his cranium.

"I don't know." Paul said, looking at Roy's helmet and feeling his own. "I really don't know."

"I don't care what it is." Ganon said brusquely. "If it keeps my skull safe from attacks, I don't care what it is."

"He he!" Roy laughed gleefully. "My sword is shiny!" He was waving his weapon about, like it was a new toy. It looked the same as before, it was just multiple shades of blue."

"Do we still have the same abilities as before?" Cloud asked warily.

"Yes, we do, as a matter of fact." Paul said. "Everything works pretty much the same around here, but there's also different words for stuff. By the way, don't get De-rezzed."

"De-rezzed?" Everybody echoed curiously.

"Somehow, I don't like the sound of that." Popo said. Paul was already walking down the sidewalk, so everybody else had no choice but to follow after him and keep up.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back in the gummi ship's cockpit, Matt worked at the computer with bleary eyes while Fox drove the ship. They were flying outside the Halberd at the moment because they felt the need to fly their own ship.

Personally, Fox thought flying the smaller ship was more soothing. It rocked and swayed a little with the wind, and it was a much smoother ride than the Halberd, which still had yet to run like it used to.

"Any luck yet?" Fox asked.

"...Huh? Oh, no, not yet." Matt said, tired.

"Look, you need to get sleep, you know." Fox shook his head. "Seriously, go take a nap, I'll have Crazy watch them."

"No, I have to establish a link with them." Matt said, determined. "If I do that, I can talk to them through a microphone and help them out."

"And is it working so far?"

"...I'll figure it out."

"Matt, if you mess something up, you could mess somebody up, or worse." Fox insisted. "Let Crazy take over, and go take a nap!"

"Fox, I can't." Matt sighed. "I won't be able to rest. They left me a job, and I'll do it, darn it!"

"..." Fox just sat back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment, letting the breath out of his body. He settled into the chair a little bit, then he opened his eyes back up and got himself in a more comfortable position.

"Can't you make a yellow brick road to lead them to where they need to go?" Fox asked finally.

"That'd take longer. I'd have to hack into millions of programs and we don't have that time."

"Have you located Radiant Garden's server, at least?"

"Yes, I have. I'm using one of my algorithms to crack its defenses as we speak. That computer is protected well. TOO well."

"Whatever you say, Matt." Fox said.

"Don't say that." Matt sighed. "I'm doing my best, but it's just not enough. And this computer, it's way too smart. I'm starting to get suspicious..."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Asking for directions is always the smart thing to do." Cloud said.

"I...uh...I'm working on it!" Paul said, flustered. "I admit it! I have no clue where we're going! This is a different section of cyberspace, so I'm as good as useless!"

"And apparently too shy to talk to a PROGRAM and ask it for directions." Ganon said.

"Uh..." Paul couldn't come up with a comeback, and his face flushed an uncomfortable pink hue.

"Excuse me!" Fina said, waving her hand at a man walking towards them. "Could you tell me how to get to the Radiant Garden server, please?"

"I do not believe I have seen you about before." The program man said. "You must be from a different sector, then, right?"

"I suppose you could say that." Fina said.

"Ah, yes, as to your inquiry, if you wish to find the Radiant garden server, it is at the end of this highway. Keep following it until you reach a solar sailer station at the edge of the canyon. Catch the 5:00 solar ship there, and you should make it to Radiant Garden."

"Thank you, sir, but what exactly do you mean by 'should'?"

"Aye, they're having a bit of trouble over in Radiant Garden at the moment, it's not that safe. I don't even know if the solar sailer is flying at the moment, but it's worth a try."

"Thank you!" Fina said, sincerely.

"Anything to help a pretty little lady in need. Good day, and good luck!"

"Good day to you, too, sir!" Fina said to him as he walked away. She walked back to the group, and noticed Paul was twice as red as before. "It's easy from here on." Fina said. "We just need to keep going straight until we can catch a ship of some sort, a solar-"

"Sailer!" Paul said. "Those are pretty neat...Sorry I interrupted."

"It's ok."

"Yeah...But, didn't I hear him say they were having trouble or something in Radiant Garden?"

"That is what it sounds like to me." Fina said.

For a moment, Paul stood there, looking past everybody blankly, then his face went white.

"Oh...no...Oh no oh no!" Paul said, grabbing his head in panic. "If that...Oh, shoot!"

"Oh shoot, what?" Ganon asked.

"Maybe we had perfect timing or something." Paul said. "If what I'm thinking is true, Radiant Garden is in deep crap, and...great."

"What's this problem, then?" Dr. Mario asked, annoyed with Paul's stupid and excitable behavior.

"Ok, I'll lay it flat. There's this butt-headed program called the MCP, the Master Control Program, that's designed to maintain the computer at Radiant Garden because it's a super computer. Anyways, this MCP should be dead, because Sora and I, with Tron's help, De-rezzed the jerk ages ago."

"And what does this MCP do?" Cloud asked. "Oh...Wait. I remember now."

"Yeah, Cloud." Paul said. "It's back. And it's angry. He'll be able to do a heck load more destruction now, than he would be able to a year ago."

"The inter-planetary Internet." Cloud choked.

"The crap is about to hit the fan, people." Paul said. "By the way, Fina, thanks for getting the directions, I suck at that kind of stuff."

"No problem."

"Then let's go!" Paul shouted urgently, running down the road at top speed. He was running for only a few seconds when there was a flash, and something dropped onto the road in front of them. It uncurled itself, and revealed itself to be a purple colored robot with four legs, and a cannon on it that made it look like a mosquito.

"I'm not surprised." Paul spat in disgust. "This is going to be a long day!"

The robot, a heartless called a Devastator, charged up a quick ball of bright blue energy and fired three laser balls at Paul. He made his sword materialize out of thin air, and deflected the laser blasts before they could hit him. The devastator followed up with one last laser blast that traveled slow, and Paul ran right for it. When the laser was about to hit him, something strange happened.

Paul's body pixilated and his waist half vanished. The laser blast passed through him like he was a ghost, and then he dashed through the Heartless, slashing it in half with his sword. The Devastator split in half and fell to the road, releasing a pink gem like heart into the sky. The body faded away, leaving behind nothing.

There was another flash, and three more dropped out of the sky.

"Alright, RUN!" Paul shouted.

The smashers gathered up and charged the devastators head on, which fired at them. Yoshi threw an egg full of venom at one, and when the egg cracked the venom hit the heartless and instantly deleted it, eating through its body like magma. Ganon crushed the other one to the side and the last one was unfortunate enough to be hit by Roy's Flare Blade.

The remaining pieces of the heartless rained down on the road, smoking a good bit before fading away. Under cover of the smoke, the smashers bolted down the road, crushing small humanoid shaped heartless that were yellow, and the red wheel-like Magnum Loaders that whirled around them and dashed at them every once in a while.

"Watch this sucker attack I invented!" Ganon growled. "Gerudo Dragon!" Ganon charged up a massive ball of purple flame in his hands, then spun around and threw his hands open Dragon Ball Z style. A massive dragon head made of purple fire burst free from his hands, and glided across the ground scorching anything it hit into oblivion. When it crashed into the side of the road it exploded and scattered purple balls of flame across the ground that lingered behind. A few heartless lucky enough to survive the attack accidentally ran into the stationary flames, driven by greed and a hunger for pure hearts.

"...Only problem is, I won't be able to pull it off for awhile." Ganon said, blowing a Magnum Loader away with a kick. "I've been charging that blast of energy all day!"

"Heavy." Yoshi said, jumping on top of one of the yellow strafers and crushing it into little squares of pixels. Two more of them chose this moment to dash at Yoshi from opposing sides, and Cloud came flying down from the sky. Yoshi shot into the air and Cloud stabbed the ground where he was standing, and created a blast of dark energy. The two heartless exploded when they crashed into the shockwave. Five more devastators decided to drop from the sky and surround Cloud and Yoshi.

Roy popped in, once again with a determined, set expression on his face. He took out a devastator with a single, powerful slash that destroyed it, and spun around and split another perfectly in half. The heartless focused their attention on him, and one flew forwards. It hovered above the ground and jabbed at him with its legs at a super surprising speed, and Roy relied on his Dragon genes to keep up with it. He blocked the attacks expertly, and before it could attack him again Roy's sword sneaked past its defenses and stabbed right into its head. It exploded in half and Roy ran right through it as it was still fading. A flash of flame danced down the edge of his blade, and he stabbed the next one right in the same spot. It exploded in an even bigger explosion, and the last devastator had no chance to react before Roy spun towards it in a whirling spiral of flame. He sawed it into five misshapen pieces, and it too exploded.

One last devastator appeared, far away so hat it was out of range of everybody's normal attacks, and it started charging up a massive burst of energy. Roy grunted, and in a tremendous feat of strength chucked his sword at it. The sword screamed towards it, singing death on the wind, and slammed into it in an even huger explosion as the devastator's energy imploded upon it.

"We did it!" Yoshi cheered as everybody clapped and gave each other high fives. Their victory hit an all time short, because there was one blinding flash, and they were completely surrounded by heartless. There were so many, it was ridiculous, and it would be hard to fight to escape...

"Roy!" Paul said. "It's time to mix!"

"Oh yeah!" Roy cheered.

"Double Fire Sword!" They cried. They both tossed their swords into the air at the same time, then jumped way into the air after them. They grabbed the swords and spun around in the air, forming a circle of flame around them. They then linked arms and flipped upside down, with Paul looking one way and Roy in the opposite direction. The spinning flip created a dome of fire beneath them, and they pile drived the blast of flame into the ground, spinning like drills with their swords touching the tip of the other. They crashed into the ground and sent out a fiery shockwave that sent all the heartless into the air, and the two swordsmen took a moment to charge their swords. Their swords vanished and turned into pure flame, and as the heartless fell back down they spun around and the swords stretched out, slicing through all of them at the same time.

Roy and Paul clanged their swords together, and all of the heartless exploded at the same time in a gigantic swirling inferno, and amidst the flames a cloud of hearts rose into the sky and vanished.

"Oh yeah!" Roy cheered, dancing about and cycling through victory poses, one right after the other.

"Too early for victory yet!" Yoshi yelped. A bunch more heartless dropped right out of the sky behind them, cutting off their escape. Fortunately they could still go forward...

"Ah! RUN!" Popo shouted. He took off running towards the departure station, and everybody else looked at the heartless behind them a moment before they bolted after him.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"What the?" Matt wondered in shock. His eyes were wide open, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"What is it?" Fox asked, worried.

"Our pals are in danger!" Matt groaned. "Somehow, there's a whole bunch of heartless inside the internet, and they're spreading like a plague."

"Heartless are weak, though." Fox said. "Are there really that many of them?"

"...Enough to crash the internet, apparently." Matt sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"What!? They crashed the internet?!" Fox yelped.

"Yeah, I'm completely cut off." Matt said. "They're on their own, and there's nothing I can do..."

"If they get rid of the heartless they should be able to exit, right?" Fox asked curiously.

"I suppose so...I think the heartless overloaded the internet, and that's what crashed it...We'll have to wait this one out."

"Hold on a second...What's the nearest town?" Fox asked.

"We're a day away from the nearest town, and I don't know which one it is." Matt said.

"Drat!"

"There might be something we can do." Matt said cautiously. "But this will just be between you and me, ok?"

"...Alright, what's your plan?" Fox asked, crossing his arms.

"Ready?" Matt asked. "Ok, this is the plan, but we're going to have to break a few rules..."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The smashers reached the station, which looked like a boat harbor. There were ship-shaped platforms with great transparent sails folded at their sides, and there were about five of these ships, each with a platform and an activation console running up next to them. There was also a booth where flights were scheduled, but since the heartless had run everybody out or stolen their hearts, the heroes were the only ones there.

Ganon ran over to the booth as fast as he could and punched the door in, then he dashed inside and came back out holding an ID card for dock 1.

He passed the keycard over to Dr. Mario, who swiped the card and typed in the ship's commands.

"The schedule's been wiped, so I'm making a new one." Dr. Mario explained, typing away furiously.

"Hurry!" Fina cried, blasting a large bunch of heartless with a giant fireball.

"POYO!" Kirby agreed, smacking a magnum loader with his hammer.

"Got it!" Dr. Mario yelled triumphantly. "Get on, quick!"

"Sounds good to me." Cloud said. He split a devastator in half and kicked the other one away, then ran behind everybody as they boarded the solar sailer. The impenetrable wall came up around the ship, and it took off along the glowing photon lines, the lines that would ultimately lead it to Radiant Garden. The gold-colored sails were spread out, and the ship was at full power, shooting off as fast as it could go."

"Thank goodness I learned how to use computers ok." Dr. Mario said, wiping sweat off his forehead with relief.

"So I guess we're headed for Radiant Garden now?" Yoshi asked.

"If everything goes well, yep-" Paul started saying, but he was cut off when he and everybody else lost their balance and crashed to the deck. The ship had stopped right in its tracks and all its lights went off, as well as the lights everywhere else.

"Uh oh..." Paul said.

"Let me guess." Dr. Mario said. "The internet's down?"

"Yeah."

"PYO!" Kirby said, brandishing his Star Rod.

"That just might work!" Yoshi said.

"Try it! Try it!" Nana said.

Kirby spun around on his feet, and jabbed the star rod into the air. He wished for the ship to move...with a bunch of Poyos, of course.

The ship's lights flickered a bit, and the ship screeched to life once more.

"Yay!" Popo said. "It worked!"

Beep beep beep beep beepbeepbeepbeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBEEPBEEPBEEP!!!

The lights on the ship went haywire, and it shook like there was an earthquake. There was a shattering noise and the ship started to shake even worse, and then a wormhole opened up right in front of the ship.

"A gift from me." A bored computerized voice said. "I do hope you like it, weakling Users." The last bit it said with a bit of superiority mixed with disgust.

The wormhole contracted, then threw itself wide open and spat out a black blob of goo. The wormhole vanished, and the puddle of black goo started to form into something...

"Ah!" Yoshi said. "It's a bunch of that black goo!"

"I HATE that MCP!" Paul roared so loudly everybody jumped. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

The black ooze finally took on a definite form, hardening into the shape of Paul, the one who was standing the closest to it.

"!?"

It looked exactly like him, down to the last hair and piece of clothing. Exactly the way he looked like outside the computer world.

Color flooded up its dark grey shaded body, and soon it was an exact replica of Paul, except its eyes were completely red.

"Ha ha." It laughed in the MCP's voice. "I remember you, Paul. I have found an even greater darkness than the heartless! I will finally conquer this pitiful world."

"How'd you come back, then?" Paul asked, as calmly as he could. He was seething inside, livid that something he hated so bad would even think of copying his appearance. "Let me guess, you copied your data and stored it somewhere safe where nobody would find it, right?"

"How did a User like you know?" The MCP asked. "It matters not. You will never find where I am now. I am safe from you, you can never find me, and I will rule the world."

"Stand back." Paul said, steam almost shooting out of his ears. "I rarely get this mad, and when I do...GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Paul screamed.

He drew his sword and dashed at his evil replica, which drew a black sword like Paul's and blocked the first slash. Paul pushed against the blade and growled like a tiger, then slammed the fiend up against the wall with a mighty heave. The fake had no time to react before Paul tried cutting its head off, but the sword went right through its neck. It kicked Paul in the stomach and knocked him over on his back. He kicked up into the air and landed on his feet as the evil copy stood back up, and they slashed at each other wildly.

"Light Spear!" Paul said. He waved his sword and sent a pillar of light shooting towards the clone, which created a barrier of magic and blocked the blow. Paul ran right for it again, and when the clone slashed at him, Paul passed right through it, ran through the clone, and passed out of its back. Paul blew it away with another blast of light, then rushed at it as fast as he could and rammed it through the chest in midair. The clone gasped and gagged as the sword punched through and crushed its chest, and it fell to the ground and turned back into black ooze before fading away.

"It is too bad." The MCP said. "It would appear that you have become much sronger, and I used your skills from over a year ago. However, I have made an assessment of your current skills and power. I am pleased with my findings. Now, goodbye, users!"

There was the unwelcome flash again, and heartless started pouring onto the Solar Sailer like mad.

"Goodbye."

BEEPBEEPBEEP!

"The ship's overloaded!" Dr. Mario yelled, banging on the ship controls. "If we don't start getting rid of heartless now, the ship will fall off the rail and we'll all be dashed to bits on the ground!"

"This is what we do best, then!" Ganon said. "Bring it on!"

"YE-HAW! RIDE 'EM, COWBOY!!!" Roy cheered. He jumped on top of a magnum loader and forced it to pop a wheelie, then rode it all over the place while slashing at the heartless with his sword. The Ice Climbers followed suit, and stood back to back with their hammers out. They spun like a whirlwind and bashed heartless aside, whacking and bashing them hard. When they stopped spinning they blasted a few heartless with icy wind, then shattered them with a couple of fierce blows. Yoshi ate the last couple of foes around the Ice Climbers, then tossed the eggs.

"WHEAH!" Yoshi grunted. Six of his eggs shot around like bullets, ricocheting everywhere and punching holes through any heartless in the way. When the eggs finally splatted, hearts flew out of them and into the sky. Fina superheated the air around some heartless in a corner of the boat, and then they were enveloped in a huge fiery inferno. Cloud shot out of the smoke, and in seconds butchered half of the heartless with light-speed slashes.

"GRAAAAH!!!" He shouted. He thrust his sword forwards and rocketed through the monsters super fast, then he jumped into the air and destroyed a huge circle of heartless with a giant explosion of darkness. Dr. Mario drew his knife once more, and went to work with it, slicing and dicing heartless while Kirby whacked them with his star rod, sliced them with his saber, and smushed them with his hammer. Paul went completely mad with his attacks, letting off a violent burst of flame with each sword strike. His eyes glimmered with rage, and his sword had a red aura around it. He focused all of his rage and extra magic energy into his sword, and initiated a decay in the sword. Its magic was slowly being given off, and it fused with the element of fire, and his rage, to explode.

BAM! BOOM! FWOOMP!

Fire spurted everywhere, and even though heartless kept pouring onto the ship, they were quickly sent back into the darkness from which they came.

The fighting continued for awhile, and after enough time passed, the ship finally landed at the Radiant Garden dock.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Paul roared. His sword vanished in a flash, and a red aura formed around his body. Red streaks of energy whirled around him and slowly absorbed into his body. He was in a crouching position when the aura completely disappeared into his body, and then he stood up and threw his arms into the air with an echoing, amplified roar. A huge, bright blast of flame expanded from his body like an atomic explosion, and it quickly enveloped the ship and the docks that they just landed at.

Heartless were instantly vaporized the second the flames washed over them, and after the flames finally faded, everything was scorched black.

"Haa...haa..haa...Whew...I think I feel better now!" Paul smiled ruefully. He grinned at everybody sheepishly, then coughed out a cloud of black smoke and passed out on the deck.

"...He always was a hot head." Cloud said in his usual calm demeanor. He, and everybody else, was burnt black with soot from the explosion.

"Owie!" Nana moaned.

"Poyo..." Kirby moaned, holding his head.

"You're not the only one that feels like a campfire marshmallow." Yoshi assured his eating rival.

"He he!" Roy laughed childishly. "Pretty colors!"

"Well..." Dr. Mario said, wiping ash off his equipment. "One thing's for sure. Whatever this MCP thing is that Paul hates so bad, it knows we're here now."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Meh, maybe this was a sucky chapter, I dunno...I just kinda have this feeling it wasn't as hot as some of my other chappys...Sigh**

**Well, did any of you readers like it? I'd like to know if I did at least a half-decent job with it.**

**Thank you for reading, everybody! Enjoy your extended weekend! (If you celebrate Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, that is. Anyways, take care, everybody, and I'll see you next time!**

**If you like madness, insanity, mystery, suspense, and lots of butt-kicking action, the world in this story is about to go to heck, seriously. I'm getting pretty close to throwing sanity in the fire, so enjoy the 'calmness' while you can.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	39. The Radiant Garden Seige

Ok, I really dunno what I meant by throwing sanity out of the window

**nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!**

**WHOOSH!**

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**

**That was a close one...Just barely dodged THAT bullet.**

**Sorry it took me so long to get back, people. Some school ninjas hunted me down when they found out I wasn't paying as much attention to school as I should have, and that incident nearly bit me in the rear! It's not like I'm getting bad grades or anything (Unless an 81 for my first block, which is my lowest, counts as 'bad') But I had a project for first block that I did a whole lot better on than I thought I would.**

**Whew. Then I also have online school because I need an extra half credit point to get my diploma. I had to catch up on that, and I also suffered my severest bout of laziness yet. You add all that up, and it's a miracle I'm still conscious, lol!**

**Ok, I really dunno what I meant by throwing sanity out of the window...But I can assure all of you that there is only going to be even more fighting from now on.**

**Fighting will be very frequent, and frantic. And still, we don't know anything of the Commander's plans, or about the demons. They don't seem to be any stronger than your normal baddie, but there's something rotten going on.**

**Where's all the rest of the enemies, while we're talking about it. There's some stuff missing from the scene, and so far, it's about 15-17 smashers up against the whole world army.**

**Sure, the smashers are strong, but can they survive a full-on siege from their sky armada?**

**Oh, those ninjas are still about...Gimme a sec...**

**Ok, I'm back! Thanks, everybody, for reading and reviewing! Have fun with the new thing I'm going to feature in every chappy!**

**(This thingy right below. I'm gonna start numbering my chapters now.)**

**-Chapter XXXIX-**

**-The Radiant Garden Siege-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Stupid boy." Dr. Mario murmured, as he took out a tiny packet of smelling salts. "I'm so glad I kept this stinky stuff with me." Dr. Mario added, before opening the packet and pouring the salt into his hand. He then lifted Paul's head and waved the compound under his nose, and when he began to stir Dr. Mario tossed the salt aside.

"Oh, man, that stuff stinks." Paul groaned. "Thanks, though, Doc!"

"You need to control that temper of yours." Dr. Mario said, slightly peeved. "I'm glad that you took out all of the heartless, but a temper like that could be the death of somebody, someday! Don't do that again."

Paul's face went red again, and he hung his head in shame. "...Sorry..."

"That's alright. Now, let's get up and take out some of this anger on the MCP, shall we?" Dr. Mario asked, with a grin.

"I like the sound of that." Paul said. "Problem is, I don't know where he is. He might have changed his location."

"Or maybe, he didn't move at all, and he is just a liar." Cloud said, crossing his arms again. "Try looking for him where you fought him last time. If he isn't there, then he probably did move. It'd be better to make sure he ISN'T at his normal location, instead of running around the whole internet, looking everywhere except for where he should be."

"Yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying." Paul said. "Right now...Yeah, we're in the right station. If we get back on the solar Sailer, there's a destination we can go to called the Central Control Mesa, or something like that., but first, I have an old friend we need to find."

"Poyo?" Kirby scratched his head curiously.

"His name's Tron." Paul said. "He's a security program, JUST the right 'man' for getting rid of unwanted, stubborn computer programs!"

"Sounds good to me." Yoshi said. "Where's he at? Let's go meet him!"

"He's probably at the I/O Tower...but knowing the MCP, he could be in the Pit Cell." Paul said, rolling his eyes. "He's always trying to get rid of Tron, and he never, never learns, obviously."

"I'm still curious about the clone he made of you." Popo said. "Was that...demon ooze or something?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Paul said, seriously. "This MCP is always trying to find the next biggest thing it can manipulate, and rule the world with. The MCP is probably being used, though it might be too stupid to know, it is so narrow minded. But more seriously, if these dark...demon things can really copy our appearance like that so easily, there's no telling what they can do. I don't need to say this, but I'm going to anyways. I don't know what's going to happen next, but whatever you do, do NOT fight the demons! I'll...handle that."

"If you say so." Nana said.

"Now, let's go meet Tron!" Paul said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BEUM!

There was a flash of light, and three figures materialized on top of a gray plateau.

When the silhouettes solidified, Matt, Link, and Fox faded back into existence.

"Dude, look at me!" Link said in awe, looking himself over and trying to get a good look at his new techno-armor.

"Don't spend too long looking at yourself, Narcissus." Fox said. He hefted the large sniper rifle in his arms, and held it with the gun barrel pointing right into the sky.

"Keep yourselves alert." Matt said, making adjustments to his arm cannon. It whirred and continually changed shape as he cycled through different modes, and when he found one he liked, he stopped. The lower arm looked Mega Man's lower arm, with a jet engine inside and a long gun barrel protruding from the center.

"I haven't seen you use that mode before." Link said. "What does it do?"

"This baby is like a grenade launcher." Matt smiled evilly. "This turbine spins super fast to create a layered ball of chaos energy, and when I fire it the laser ball acts as an explosive."

"Sweet." Fox said, cocking his own laser gun. "Now, what's our objective again?"

"It was hard, but I finally hacked us into the Radiant Garden server." Matt said. "Don't ask how I got inside when the server was down, I did a whole bunch of illegal stuff. Anyways, I was able to catch some of what Paul was saying earlier, and this MCP thing seems to have duplicated itself and stored itself away so it can keep coming back."

"And?"

"I found the bugger's hiding spot, and it's time for us to root him out for good." Matt said.

"Ok, take me to him!" Link snickered. "We have to help however we can, so let's do this!"

"Right on! Follow me!" Matt said, running across the plateau with the swordsman and Fox in tow.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The smashers were standing on a platform embedded in a giant cliff, and in the cliff, there was a green wall with a lock in the middle. It pulsed with waves of energy and gave off a faint glow.

"Since this is the only cell there is, let's crack this open." Paul said. "It'd be a cinch if Sora were here, he'd be able to open it with his keyblade easy. Ganon, if you will?"

"My pleasure." Ganon said. "Warlock...PUNCH!" Ganon charged his fist up for about a second, and released a super powerful punch that shattered the wall like glass. When the rubble settled, they walked in to a small room that had two windows looking over a huge square shaped arena. In the corner was a yellow computer console, which could be used to access other areas.

"Darn." Paul said, after looking over the empty room.

"What's out the window?" Cloud asked as he approached it.

"Uh, the name slips my mind, but it's where the MCP sticks programs it doesn't like and makes them play games.

"That doesn't sound so bad." Fina said.

"Yeah? If you lose, you get deleted." Paul spat in disgust. "Know what else? The games are rigged so that you always lose. The jerk gives you a false hope, and you get yourself killed, and for what?"

"You're still here." Yoshi said.

"Yes, and I'm very thankful." Paul said. "...And look, the MCP has Tron down there...again."

"Oh no! He'll get De-rezzed!" Popo shouted.

"Wanna play?" Paul asked mischievously, waving towards the console.

"This is my job." Cloud said. "Leave it to me."

He walked over to the machine and pressed a few buttons, then turned back to everybody.

"See you after I rescue Tron, then." Cloud said before he vanished in a beam of light.

"Good luck!" Yoshi said.

"Poyo!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When Cloud re-materialized, he was standing next to a motorcycle. It was a 'light cycle.' He swung his leg up over the side, and when he was comfortable in the seat, he started it up and zoomed off towards a large group of heartless surrounding a man.

Cloud brandished his giant Buster Sword with one hand, and charged into the mob of heartless. He ducked low and sprung into the air, and flew through the mob while waving his sword. He landed upright and pulled a sharp u-turn and came back at them even faster. A few of the devastators aimed their snouts at him and started firing a mess of laser balls, which Cloud avoided. He streaked past them again, and slashed once. The cut on their bodies glowed, then they exploded. Cloud turned around one last time, and ploughed through the heartless and seized the man by the arm.

The cycle blasted through the last few heartless, and during the brief lapse in attacks, Cloud helped Tron back up on the cycle.

Tron was pretty tall, about six or six and a half feet high, and he was a wearing a grey outfit that covered his whole body. His head was wrapped up in a helmet of sorts, and the front was open to his face.

"Thank you for your help." Tron said. "Tell me, what is your name, User?"

"The name's Cloud. I'm one of Sora's friends." Cloud said.

"Ah! I see." Tron said. Then, his face went from normal to confused. "I thought Sora and I got rid of the MCP? What is he doing back?"

"From what I understand," Cloud said, "The MCP saved a copy of itself and waited for the 'right moment' to reappear."

"Darn! I am not surprised, though." Tron sighed. "...Any idea where he's located?"

"Not exactly." Cloud said. "We're headed back to the central control mesa." 

"And you need me to come along, correct?" Tron asked.

"Yeah, we need your help if we're going to delete the MCP again. But first, let's focus on getting out of here first, shall we?" Cloud said, revving the light cycle's motor and making it speed up even faster.

"Affirmative!" Tron replied. Cloud nodded and released the brakes, and the light cycle roared into action. A group of heartless managed to get within attacking range at their rear, and they fired a volley of laser balls and rings. Cloud waited for the right moment, then he quickly u-turned and missed the projectiles. He drove right into the group of heartless, and with two quick and devastating slashes, sent a cloud of hearts into the air.

"Cloud, I think I can de-rezz one of the wall sections if I create a program." Tron explained. "Keep me safe until I compile all my necessary resources."

"Ok." Cloud said, in a tone reminiscent of his usual cool attitude.

Some of the magnum loaders formed a line and were quickly moving into Cloud's path in an attempt to head him off, while some Devastators and Strafers were closing in behind them. Cloud went right for the red wheel heartless and popped a wheelie, and when the front end started coming back down he threw his weight against the front of the bike and crushed two of the loaders. Upon touching the ground Cloud floored the pedal again. The sudden gain in speed made the front wheel fly into the air again, and helped the rear wheel to grip the ground.

A devastator tried to bar his way, but Cloud made his cycle jump, and it shot off the devastator's snout and head like a ramp. They soared way into the air, flipping in slow motion while heading right towards a wall.

"I've finished the executable!" Tron declared. He waved his hand once, and an invisible wave of energy wiped out a hefty section of the wall. The wall crumbled and vanished as it fell, an the two landed safely on the ground and drove the cycle off to freedom.

"...What the heck's an executable?" Cloud asked finally.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The outer wall of the arena exploded in a small area, and the light cycle burst through the cloud of dust.

Cloud continued gunning the motor for a moment, then he quickly swept the cycle sideways and screeched to a halt. The rest of the team ran up as quickly as they could to greet the newly rescued ally.

They hadn't been standing there long when there was a loud shout.

"Hey! There you are!"

"Hold a second..." Ganondorf said, turning around. When he saw who was approaching, he didn't hesitate to slap his head.

Matt, Link, and Fox ground to a halt in front of the team. The silence that ensued was the loudest ever.

"Um...Hello?" Link said, looking abashed.

"You said you would be staying behind to work the computer." Cloud said simply. "So, what do we do now? Did something bad happen?"

"Something good happened for once." Fox said, taking care not to look Matt in the eyes. "Matt hacked into the internet-"

"How'd you do that with the internet down?" Dr. Mario asked, mildly surprised. Matt made quite a show of ignoring him, with his fingers jammed in his ears.

"The good news is, Matt found the MCP." Fox said, jumping right to the point.

"We already nose where he is!" Roy insisted. "He went and-"

"Yeah, anyways," Fox sighed, "The MCP did actually make a copy of himself. We know where he stashed his copy away. Tricky thing is, we have to delete both copies at the same time, or we'll never beat him."

" 's dat so?" Roy asked, trying to sound cool. "No problemo!"

"This sounds like we're splitting up again, am I right?" Fina asked.

"That about sums it up." Link said, disgruntled. "Matt here says he only wants me and Fox to help him destroy the OTHER MCP, ya know, low profile and all that stuff. What else can I say, but carry on as you were doing?"

"Then what was the point in telling us all of this!?" Paul said, annoyed.

"That's just it." Matt said. "WE HAVE TO DO IT ALL AT THE SAME TIME!! DO YOU UNDERFREAKINGSTAND ME!?"

"YES!" everybody shouted in a panic, backing away from Matt as if he were a raving lunatic.

"Wonderful." Matt smiled sincerely. "I'll keep in touch with our smash phones. You guys know what to do."

"Da, I 'spose we do." Roy said, thoughtfully stroking his chin.

"Roy, stop being so stupid!" Popo moaned.

"Well...see you later then." Paul said to Matt. "Good luck and everything."

"You too." Matt said, to everybody but his two partners. He turned around and walked away, with Fox following him. Link stayed behind, staring past everybody sadly.

"He...he didn't wish me any luck..." Link sobbed before turning and running after his teammates, wailing.

"..."

Ganon and Cloud looked around and caught each other's eye, and looked away quickly, while Dr. Mario slapped his head in embarrassment, and Roy danced about skipping and singing at the top of his voice.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I still have no clue why I work with you people." Ganondorf was saying later, as they walked along the canyon that led towards the MCP. Roy was slung over his shoulder like a towel, completely unconscious.

"If I remember correctly, you said you joined up so you could beat up on Link. You said so!" Yoshi insisted when Ganon shook his head.

"How many times have I told you, dino breath? I'm done with all that!" Ganon shouted.

"Are you sure?" Nana asked, her head cocked sideways and etched with a curious look. "You sure look like you wanna murder him, sometimes!"

"Who doesn't?" Ganon retorted. "I mean, for pete's sake he acts like a blithering idiot!"

"RICECAKES!" Roy screamed suddenly, flinging himself off Ganon's shoulder and running away. "THEY'RE AFTER ME! SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

"...On second thought, I'm starting to think I dislike Roy more." Ganon growled, cracking his knuckles.

"Chill, getting riled up about something so trivial is stupid." Cloud said. "I think we're finally getting close, am I right?"

"Yes, the MCP should be just across this chasm, in the main tower." Tron explained.

"Tron, you still have that program for erasing the MCP?" Paul asked.

"Right here." Tron said, pulling out his disk.

"Ok, everybody, listen up." Paul said, motioning for everyone to for a circle. "Tron here has the device we need to completely erase the MCP, but it requires power. We'll have to team up and focus all our strength into this disk..." Paul tapped the disk in question, "And then it will fire a super powerful beam capable of de-rezzing anything it hits. We'll have to smack the MCP good if we want to get rid of him, and now he's probably tons stronger. Everybody understand?"

"Duh, it's not like you're speaking French or anything." Popo said.

"I wonder what will happen after we cook this moron?" Fina asked.

"Well, for one our lives, and the lives of the residents of Radiant Garden will be much more pleasant. Once we've won, though, we have to find Merlin and get his help." Paul said.

"Let's go then!" Yoshi said. "Let's go kick the MCP's booty!

"Alright, the lift is just this way." Paul said, motioning to the solar sailer that would take them to the central control mesa.

They all walked towards it, and when they were all on it the sailer set off for its destination.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Matt, Link, and Fox ran across the seemingly endless plains, which stretched out before them...without end.

After a while of running, they came across a depression in the ground, which contained an entrance to a cavern. Matt glanced at his wrist for a moment, then nodded to his partners and jumped right into the hole. Fox and Link jumped in after him.

The entrance of the cavern was like a well: it went way down a tube before it went anywhere else.

Matt landed on his feet in a crouching position, and shortly after, Fox landed next to him.

"...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!"

THUNK!

Link landed on his face, with his arms and legs all sticking up in the air at odd angles.

"Feet first, Link, feet first." Matt reminded the stunned Hero of Time. Link pulled himself up off the ground, and massaged his face.

"Owie..." He sighed, rubbing his smushed face.

"Watch out next time, will ya? You almost fell on me." Fox said.

"I sowwe." Link said, "Darn ith...I can'th talk popply becauth my tongth ith swolleth!"

"Ssh..." Matt said, holding a finger up to his lips.

"Sowwe." Link whispered.

Matt turned back around, and faced the opening in the wall next to them. He peered inside to check if the coast was clear. He gave a thumbs up to Link and Fox, then walked in.

Inside the tunnel, the ground was slightly uneven, covered in loose dirt and stones. The ceiling of the tunnel was about ten feet high, and here and there a stalactite hung from the ceiling. The tunnel went for about a fifth of a mile before finally opening up into a large dome shaped room with a central pillar.

The pillar in question seemed to be made of red light, and it had the ugliest bland face on it ever.

"The Master Control Program, I presume?" Matt asked, charging up his arm cannon.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BAM!

Ganondorf sent a gigantic Destroyer flying off the deck of the solar sailer with his Warlock Punch. The heartless flew far away before exploding into a cloud of dust, and a pink heart rose into the sky before vanishing.

WHAM!

Cloud's sword cleaved a heartless right in half before it could attack Ganon.

"Might want to try watching your back next time." Cloud suggested.

"I'm slow, ok?" Ganon said.

"In more ways than one, apparently." Cloud said.

"I'll get you...some other time!!" Ganon roared. He dashed forward and delivered a serious uppercut punch to some enemies, then jumped into the air after them and blew them away with a rotating Wizard Foot attack. Yoshi launched up into the air after Ganon and tossed an egg at the heartless. They blew up, and Ganon cleared their landing by stomping hard on the ground and sending out a shockwave.

BAM!

Popo and Nana smashed a baddie on the head and squished it before it could attack Yoshi and Ganon. The Ice Climbers ducked and Ganon spiral kicked over their heads and smashed more heartless, and Yoshi smacked some away with his tail. A few Magnum loaders rushed up behind Yoshi, who horse-kicked them towards Paul. He erected a barrier of wind that the heartless bounced off of before exploding into pink hearts. He used the chance to counter a devastator's laser beam with Reflect, which destroyed the Destroyer that was trying to destroy Roy, who ran around screaming like he inhaled a balloon's worth of helium.

"Shut UP!" Ganondorf bawled, trying to plug his ears and fight while failing miserably. Dr. Mario tossed a bandage at Roy's head, which instantly stuck around his mouth and silenced him. He tripped and fell on a strafer before it could zap him, and crushed it. A bunch of heartless tried jumping on him but Fina stopped them with a silver needle that instantly killed them. Roy quickly got back up and resumed his pointless running.

"Isn't this the most enjoyable thing that ever happened." Cloud said in a highly sarcastic, monotone voice.

"Just shut up." Ganon retorted, slamming his leg into a nearby heartless and crushing it.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"DUCK!" Matt warned, just as the MCP fired a giant laser.

"Where?!" Link asked.

"MOVE!" Fox shouted.

"Uh oh...Oopsie." Link muttered as the beam engulfed him. There was a sizzling noise the instant it hit him, but the beam glanced off and struck the face of the MCP

"Ow." It commented in a monotone computer voice. It was a moment before Link realized it was his mirror shield that saved his hide.

"I can't believe I forgot! Ha! How stupid can I get?" Link chuckled.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

When the smoke cleared, Link was burnt black, except for the area just behind his shield. The MCP had opted for a larger beam, which did the trick.

Fox and Matt darted about in the confines of the cave, avoiding lasers aimed at them from the ugly holographic head. Another laser was about to hit Link, but Fox fired a laser of his own and knocked it off course by a bit. It burned a hole in the ground just a few inches away from Link's foot, which aroused him from his smoky stupor and allowed him to rejoin the fray.

The MCP quickly found out it was difficult to attack with three foes on the offensive, when it only had two eyes to watch them with.

"I am outmatched." It stated in its empty voice.

"Darn straight!" Fox said, watching the image with wariness.

"I must simply replicate myself." The MCP said, before wrinkling its face into a repulsive, stretched smile.

"STOP!" Matt screamed, too late.

The MCP flashed once, and faded to a white color before stretching out to the sides. It broke into three shafts of light, which regained a red hue as they spread apart and scattered throughout the cave.

"Nooooooooo..." Matt moaned. "Our job just got three times harder!"

"How so?" Link asked as he prepared an arrow.

"Remember I said we have to delete the MCP all at the same time?" Matt asked. "Well, we have to take out this creep, and the others have to take the OTHER creep out at the same time!"

"Uh oh." Fox said, realizing what Matt said.

"Yeah, just tighten your belts, and let's go. We'll figure something out." Matt said.

"Ha ha ha. Come, and fight. You cannot defeat me. I am superior." The MCP said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The fight on the solar sailer grew more and more frenzied with every second.

Explosions rocked the ship wildly, and clouds of hearts rose from the smoke that covered the ship. On board, everything was a mass of confusion for the bad guys. They weren't trained to fight in smoke.

The smashers had some experience with fighting in difficult situations, but they could also sense each other's presence to some degree.

That was why the heartless didn't stand a chance. After awhile, they stopped coming in from the portals. It took no time at all to round them up, and once they were all finished off, the smoke cleared.

More or less, everybody was starting to become tired. Yoshi was panting deeply, with his eyelids drooping slightly and his tongue hanging from his mouth. The Ice Climbers, Paul, and Roy dropped to the ground to gasp for air, and the remainder of the smashers were more dignified about their fatigue.

"That...was rough." Dr. Mario sighed, taking a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow.

"No kidding." Cloud agreed. "I didn't think this trip would be a marathon of battles, but who am I joking? I'm not surprised."

"...We should...almost...be there." Paul said, taking a few deep breaths during his pauses. He finally pulled himself up off the ground, and the Ice Climbers followed suit. Roy stayed on the ground.

"Really?" How can you tell?" Fina asked.

"If you look over there, towards the giant red beam of light, you'll see that it meets a large tower like structure on the horizon. When we took off we couldn't see the tower, but if you look very carefully...you can see a silhouette just along the horizon."

"I see it now." Ganon said. "At this rate, we ought to be there in just a few minutes."

"Hello." A blank computerized voice called out.

"It's the MCP!" Tron cried out. He was at the ship's controls, keeping it under control.

"I am amused by your current conversation." The MCP said, "But, unfortunately you pose a great threat to my plans and I, and you must be disposed of. The only thing you "users" shall see is the trash folder!"

At that moment, there was a loud humming noise, and a portal opened above the ship.

"System overload!" Tron shouted. "There's too much data for the ship to carry! It's going to sink!"

"What IS it!?" Dr. Mario asked as everybody looked up at the vortex. A second after he asked, a spherical body dropped from the vortex, and stopped to hover about a foot from the ground in front of the smashers. The body was round and blue, with knobs on it like a spiky ball. The body had a few cracks on the outside where it separated into three separate parts, and in the middle of it, at the front was a hollow shaped like a spade. Inside the hollow was a black panel with three yellow dots. Below the body was a white set of three legs and a base, like a tripod to hold up a camera. Floating beside the entity were two large mechanized arms, which had claws.

"My Security program shall take care of you. if I am lucky, I shall not see you again."

And with that, the MCP's voice was gone, which left the Smashers alone to contend with the new threat.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Matt barely managed to take to the air before three beams struck the ground where he was just a second ago. The MCP's three heads rushed in, quickly surrounding Matt.

Fox dashed in and snatched his partner out of the air before the three heads collided with a huge crash that would have crushed Matt to death. The agile space mercenary spun around in midair and kicked off his partner, sending himself flying towards one of the heads. He axe kicked it hard across the face and knocked it to the floor before shooting another in the face, and was on the ground and running away before the other head knew what happened. At the same time, Matt fired a fully charged compact ball of lightning, and Link shot a bomb arrow at the last head. The resulting explosion sent the MCP pirouetting through the air like a ballistic missile in a gale.

Before he shattered on the rocks of the cave, the MCP whited out and reappeared behind the two vulnerable smashers. He fired two lasers at them from his eyes, But Fox countered with a combination attack of his Fox illusion and his reflector. There was a streak of blue light that blocked both of the lasers, and reflected them right back at the MCP.

"Nooooooooooo!" He yelled, spinning through the air again when the lasers blasted him backwards. Fox shot up under him and double kicked him in the back, sending him flying up into the air towards the roof of the cave, where Matt suddenly materialized and unleashed a barrage of exploding energy bullets. Once gravity took its hold on Matt, he spin kicked the MCP in the face as he dropped past it, sending the big ugly red face towards Link. The hylian knight stopped the program in its tracks with a shield bash to its face, and followed up with a bunch of rapid jabs to its face. He finished his combo by grabbing its fat nose with his clawshot and using his Spin attack. The MCP became a red halo around Link, he was spinning so fast, when suddenly Link released the claw's grip. The MCP hurtled towards Matt, who bashed him towards Fox with a fierce rocket punch.

Fox intercepted the MCP in midair again by jumping at it at top speed. He planted his feet on its back once more, and kicked it so hard it flew across the cave and slammed into the wall with a sonic boom.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The Rogue security program proved a tough opponent.

It whirled around the ship at speeds even the Smashers had trouble keeping up with, while firing strange rays of energy that traveled slowly an changed direction every second to follow their targets.

The air around the whole ship was a net of lasers, which the Smashers navigated to counter the attacks of the enemy. The ship was quickly losing control from the data overload caused by the program's appearance.

Ganondorf wound up his Warlock punch and came at the security program at a run, and just before he could slug it, the program whirled out of the way and knocked him off his feet with a laser beam. The program then went on the offensive, and formed a multi-faced gem made of light in midair. It flew above it and fired two continuous lasers from its arms, and light shot out of the gem everywhere. It started spinning and scorching everything, and though the smashers dodged the lasers the ship was still sinking.

Cloud rushed towards the gem and reflected one of the rays towards the program, which took the full force of its own laser and got blown away. With a single slash, Cloud shattered the gem and stopped the lasers from flying around. Fina fired a giant crackling blast of lightning up into the sky after the flying security program but the attack missed. Paul and the Ice Climbers followed up with a Super Blizzard attack.

The floating cloud of absolute-zero air was evaporated by another laser, and the program smashed into the deck with enough force to rock the ship wildly. Roy finally landed a blow on its arm with a charged Flare blade attack, which cracked the arm badly and knocked the program over on its back.

BOOOOOOOM!

SHING!

Ganon's Warlock Punch and Cloud's Omni Slash attacks both hit at the same time, and blew the program into the sky at frightening speed. Its armor was badly cracked on one side, and was threatening to shatter under any more attacks.

"Diffusion Beam!" The program cried. It's arms fused together to form a gigantic laser cannon with an elongated laser barrel, which started glowing with blue light. The program charged for only a second, then released a thin beam of blue light. It hit the ship with a bright, deafening explosion that left a gaping hole in the middle of the ship.

"The bright side is, the ship's leaking useless information!" Tron said in a valiant attempt at optimism.

"Just keep it from sinking!" Paul bawled. The program fired another Diffusion beam, which Paul intercepted and returned with a Reflectga spell. The beam completely destroyed the program's beam cannon, and the foe started falling back towards the ground again. Dr. Mario and Yoshi intercepted it in midair and Meteor Smashed it with their fists and head respectively. Ganon jumped at it as it was falling and smashed it's side open with a Wizard's Foot attack and finished with a Flame Choke attack. He grabbed it by its face, and tossed it back towards the ground with an explosion of darkness.

Cloud, Paul, and the Ice Climbers all jumped at it at the same time and smashed the program with their weapons, showering them all with a fountain of sparks as the outer armor of the enemy exploded.

"Electrulen!" Fina cried. She fired her gigantic thunder spell again, which hit the program and completely fried it. It rose into the air, twitching convulsively, then suddenly exploded with a flash of blue light.

"One thingy outta the way." Yoshi said. "I hope that's it for the moment."

"Me too." Paul agreed. "Tron! Full speed ahead! We need to end this fast!"

"With pleasure." Tron said. He pressed a few more buttons, and after just a slight delay, the ship shot off at twice its speed before.

The Central Control Mesa was getting closer...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I hate you!" The MCP said, though its voice did not sound the part.

The MCP was busy flying through the air again, and it had a giant scorch mark from Matt's cannon on its right cheek.

"Can you even fight?" Link chuckled. "All we've been doing is kicking your big, red, shiny butt around cyberspace, and all you can say is, "I hate you!"?"

"Yes."

"Matt, I'm bored." Fox yawned.

"Keep it up, guys. You're forgetting how much is at stake here." Matt warned. "Whatever you do, never lose sight of your goal!"

"Right, then!" Link said, getting into a battle stance once again.

"I have only begun, weak users." The MCP declared. "I have been watching you...And now there is no way you can defeat me. I know all of your moves, I can even predict what you will do before you do it! My data processors allow me to compute many things."

"So?" Link sniffed. "We're still gonna kick your butt."

"Come, users. Come." The MCP said.

The last leg of the battle was about to begin...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The black landscape spread out below like a sheet of darkness, interrupted by even blacker horizons that flashed with lightning. The rain that fell was thick and heavy, and it fell to the blackness below without relenting.

On the black surface was a big crater filled with water from the rain, and at the bottom was a blue glow.

It was just a tiny glow in comparison to the size of the crater.

Beneath the water, there was a huge crack, and the blue cyst erupted in a cloud of lightning and blue crystal fragments.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Uh...That was five months. I don't have much to say, other than school caught up with me big time, and that I've also been busy creating the first game of the Supremacy series.

Yeah, I've already started working on a big game project. Unfortunately, the battles of the Action version of Supremacy will not be three-dimensional, but will stay true to the 2-d battle style of SSB, SSBM, and SSBB. But all this means is that I've been neglecting my stories. Thankfully, I intend on getting another update done this weekend.

AND I'll try NEVER to do this again unless I'm absolutely forced not to do it. I'll do my absolute stinking best to keep this story rolling, as I have no desire to quit.

Thank all of you for your continued support, and I SHOULD see you all again soon!

I have also come across another decision. For those of you wanting to see more Original Characters appear in the fray, I'm afraid I'm going to halt that for the moment. I do not decide this lightly, but when I have 60+ characters to consider in the main plot of this story and all, I hope you can agree that I've bitten off more than I can chew, and am trying to chew it the best I can. I'll see you all next time, and take care!

With that said, Adieu, and Review!

-Shining Riku-

(Yay! I'm back!)


	40. A Blow to Evil

Yep

**Yep! I'm here! Again...So, how have all of you been? It's been too long, that's what!**

**I really don't have anything to say here, so let's just get started again, shall we?**

**-Chapter XXXX-**

**-A Blow to Evil-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Come, Users. Come." The MCP declared. "You cannot defeat me!"

"We're not backing down now, you junked up piece of holographic garbage!" Fox cried. "Give it your best shot!"

The MCP started rotating. At first it was slow, but as it continued spinning it picked up speed. The other two clones whirled over and started spinning in sync with the main head, and after awhile beams of lightning roared in between them and lit up the room.

Matt, Link, and Fox actually had to take a couple of steps backward to avoid the growing energy field.

The MCP suddenly vanished, along with his clones, and the bubble of lightning exploded and filled the whole cave with white light. When it was dark enough for the trio to see again, they looked where they last saw the MCP, and nearly dropped their jaws on the ground in shock.

"Hello, Link!" Link yelled towards them from across the room. Matt was busy making a few adjustments to his arm cannon, and Fox was examining his hand blaster.

And yet, the other three smashers were standing across from them, staring at them with disbelief.

"What...Just happened?!" Link finally blurted out.

"We've been cloned." Matt said from beside him, but when Link turned to face him, there were two Matts.

"Yep, we've been cloned." The other Matt said. "But who's who?"

"I know I'm real!" Link yelled. The other Link elbowed him hard in the ribs and knocked the wind out of him.

"No, I'm real." Link protested.

"Wait, Wait!" Fox yelled in a slight panic. "What's happening!?"

"I think we were about to eliminate you, right, Matt?" The other Fox asked his partner.

"Were you talking to me, or him?" the Matt in question asked.

"No, I think he was talking to me." Other Matt said.

"Wanna scrap, then?"

"Anybody that has enough moxie to mess with me and my friends is going to pay. Add that to the fact you want to rule the world, and you just got yourself one sticky mess!"

"For you, maybe..." The fake Matt chuckled sinisterly.

"Don't let them fool you!" Matt yelled. "It's still the MCP!"

"Duh, you can tell I'm real, at least." Link grunted, holding his chest. "I mean, am I mean enough to elbow myself in the chest, EVEN if the other me is bad?"

"That's Link, alright." Fox said, sighing with relief. "But, how can we tell YOU are the real Matt?"

"Because...Link wears underwear with Chibi Zeldas all over them, and you secretly have a crush on Krystal."

"If this wasn't a win-lose situation, I'd knock you into infinity for that." Fox growled, blushing so hard even his facial hair seemed pink."

"I second that!" Link yelled.

"Darn, I don't think this is going well." The three fake smashers said.

"You're right again, BOZO!" Matt yelled. He, Fox, and Link punched the fakes in the face with colossal force before they could react.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Huh?" Somebody asked suddenly. He was sitting in a big computer chair in a control room, in front of a large computer screen with tons of buttons around it.

"This is Tron, come in, Radiant Garden!" Tron called urgently from the speaker.

"OH! What to do, what to do...I DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE THE COMPUTER!" Sora screamed, nearly tearing his hair out. "CURSE YOU!"

"You should be careful how you handle your stress, Sora." Tron chided from the speaker.

"Ok..." Sora took a moment to breathe in deep, then let his breath loose slowly. "That's better. What's going on, Tron?"

"I think you might have figured this out already, Sora, but the MCP is trying to take over the world."

"Tell me something I DON'T know." Sora snapped, looking at a security monitor that showed a couple other smashers fighting off a swarm of heartless just outside the main keep.

"Ok, Sora. Paul, Fina, Ganondorf, Cloud, Yoshi, The Ice Climbers, Doctor Mario, and Roy are with me. We're heading towards the MCP now."

"WHAT!?"

"What what?"

"How did they get in there with you? They didn't use this computer here!" Sora exclaimed.

"Have you ever heard of the internet, and computer hacking?"

"Oh...So that's what they did?"

"Yes. The MCP has cloned himself to make a backup. That is how he came back. Matt, Link, and Fox are after the clone, and if everything goes well the MCP shall never return."

"That's good news." Sora said. "But let me tell you THIS: There are Valuan ARMADA SHIPS FLYING AROUND, ALONG WITH SOME G.U.N SHIPS, AND THEY'RE SHOOTING THE CITY APART! WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT, HUH!?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Oh, no..." Tron whispered.

"Who are you talking to?" Paul asked.

"It is Sora." Tron said. "Radiant Garden is in trouble."

"We know that!" Dr. Mario said. "It's the MCP!"

"Yes, and no." Tron said.

"No?" Fina asked, eyes wide with surprise.

"It is the World Government." Tron said. "They're attacking Radiant Garden."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"WHAAAAAT!?" Matt screamed, holding his head with his left hand.

"WHAT!?" Link screamed back as he fought himself off.

"Somehow, G.U.N's found out where we were headed, and they're attacking Radiant Garden!"

"I don't like where this is going!" Fox yelled. He slapped his fake across the head with his staff, and lunged forward to pierce it in the chest when it created a black staff from nowhere and countered. The counterattack blew Fox off his feet and into the air. "So, let me guess. After we beat this MCP-"

"You will not defeat me!" The three fakes cried.

"Shut up." Fox snarled, blasting the fake Fox away and shooting a few fireballs after him to keep him busy. "As I was saying, after we beat this MCP, it looks like this is just the appetizer before the main course, hmm?"

"You could say that." Link grunted as he deflected fake Link's attacks. "Speaking of appetizers, I'm starved!"

"Food is the least of our worries." Matt said. "Just fight harder!"

"I WANT FOOD!" Link screamed so loud everybody almost jumped out of their cybersuits. "You're in the way." Link then stated calmly, talking to the fake Link.

"Me? In the way? You're kidding me! I have more important things to do that gorge myself!" The fake link laughed darkly.

"Like what? Rule the world and get your butt kicked?" Matt asked, peeved. "I've had it. I can't even understand how Tron, Paul, and Sora can tolerate you!"

"WE CAN'T!!" The trio screamed over the comlink.

"Ok...I'll take that as they can't." Matt sighed, rubbing his deaf ear. "Let's end this, guys."

"HUNGY!" Link screamed, frothing at the mouth.

"Um...I'm ready." Fox said, embarrassed at his friend's moronic behavior.

"A lot rests on the outcome of this fight." Matt repeated sternly. "If our poor stupid enemy here has nothing better to do than spend his time mimicking us, then he's just a joke waiting to be laughed up."

"I am not a joke!" The trio yelled, with a touch of the MCP's emotionless tone. "I shall destroy you, and take over the world! It must be ruled by machines! Humans pass on, they worsen, they fall apart with age! They succumb to everything! Machines can improve! They are far superior to the worthless likes of you!"

"I've had it." Matt said.

He drew his right mechanical fist back and morphed it from an energy grenade launcher to his usual mecha fist, then he threw his fist forward and created a localized pressure wave. The sudden upset in air pressure slammed the fakes together with a loud crack then separated them. They flew across the cave, and then the fight REALLY began.

Link sprinted after his clone, which flipped in the air and landed on its feet. It skidded backwards as it lost momentum, and when Link finally caught up it slashed at him with its sword. Link narrowly sidestepped the attack, then he brought his own sword down on the fake Link's sword for a bone-jarring blow. Fake Link yelped in surprise and dropped its sword. Link slashed his sword in an attempt to decapitate the fake, but it dodge rolled right under his legs and flipped into the air. Link was off balance from the force of his swing, which the fake Link took advantage of by kicking Link square in the back.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Link screamed. The blow sent him flying into a stalagmite. Before he knocked himself out on the offending piece of rock, Link flipped in midair, grabbed the tip of the rock, and did a hand-stand above it. Fake Link charged him and tried cutting his hands off, but Link was in the air before he even drew the sword. Link executed his Helm Splitter attack from behind the fake Link, which the fake Link blocked by using his sword to deflect Link's sword. Link landed behind Fake Link, back to back.

WHIPASH!

SHING!

Both Links drew their swords, and with a mighty clash, brought them together. They were close enough to bite each other's nose if they felt like it.

Which is what Link decided to do. He caught his opponent completely off guard, and caught the fake's honk right in his teeth!

"OWIE!! OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!" The fake Link screamed nasally, pin wheeling his arms in an attempt to shake his tormentor loose. It finally clonked Link upside the head with the hilt of its sword, and Link let go in an explosion of stars.

His head felt like it had just been cracked by a cannonball and he felt far away enough from earth to say "Hello, Alpha Centauri!"

BAM!

More stars erupted in Link's head, and he thought he was looking at some new galaxies. Before the Fake Link could move in for the kill, Link came back to his senses and punched the fake in the gut.

"OOF!" The fake grunted as the wind was knocked out of him.

Link rammed his knee into the fake gut, then bowed him over the ground and bent the fake over his knee.

"I saw Mario do this once." Link said to the fake. "For your sake you better hope I mess this up!"

Link tossed the fake into the air with a powerful kick, then jumped into the air and pumped up his leg muscles. The fake Link dropped back to earth, and was in front of Link just when he released his kick.

The fake didn't stand a chance. The second Link's foot collided with the fake, the fake burst into flames and shot off like a rocket. It crashed through stalactite after stalactite, and only stopped after it hit a super big one. The big stalactite broke loose from the ceiling, and crushed the fake link.

"Oh well. Looks like I didn't mess up." Link said. "...Sorry!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Approaching the landing site." Tron called out. They had finally arrived at the Central Control Mesa. A big cylindrical building towered high above their heads...but still not high enough to pass the pixilated clouds.

"This is it." Paul said. "We have to beat this MCP, and fast, or we won't be able to do what we came here for. I don't know how G.U.N. found us, but we're still going to kick their butts!"

"Ya ya...Shut up and let's get to the butt kicking already." Ganon said. "You're boring."

"Thanks, Ganon." Paul said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"So, what should we do, Tron?" Yoshi asked.

"I have a program that we can use to erase the MCP, but it draws from everybody's strength." Tron explained, taking his disk weapon and showing it to everybody. "That's a plus, because we are all a whole lot stronger than the first time we battled the MCP, and there are also more of us. By my estimate, the MCP has not grown any stronger at all. The only power he has is how many machines he has under his control. If I'm guessing this right...it will take one hit from our attack to erase him.

"Darn. Is he really that weak?" Paul asked, scratching his head.

"Yes." Tron replied. "He has not changed at all. As much as he boasts about machines being able to change he hasn't changed one bit. Heh heh, one 'bit', get it?"

"Tron, shut up!" Everybody moaned.

"You ought to surf the internet more." Paul sighed. "You still have a long way to go concerning jokes."

"Sorry about that." Tron said. "Now, if I am not mistaken, we are expected."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CLANG!

Matt's fist smashed into the fake's fist, and the force pushed both of them back a few feet. Matt dug his feet into the ground and charged his opponent again. The Fake ducked under his punch and tried knocking his feet out from under him, but Matt somersaulted right over him and landed behind him. Matt landed on one foot and spun on the spot and dealt a powerful kick to the fake's head. The fake rolled with the kick and jumped into the air, spun upside down, and hovered in the air.

"Now there's something I can't do." Matt chuckled weakly.

The fake fired chaos bullets at Matt, who ran from the fire and charged up his own bullets. Matt then jumped at a stalactite, kicked off of it, and knocked the fake out of the air with a tackle. In the air, Mat grabbed the fake by its shoulders, planted his feet on its chest, and kicked off of it. Matt stopped in the air, but the fake kept going, at even higher speed. It plowed right into a rock headfirst, which stopped it cold. Matt charged his gun for a second, then let loose a stream of fire bullets that peppered the fake Matt with a storm of explosions. Before the smoke could clear Matt charged in and grabbed the fake by the collar with his left hand, and wound up a punch with his right. He then used an uppercut punch to send the fake flying towards the ceiling.

The fake crashed into the roof of the cave and bounced off, only to be blasted back into the roof by one of Matt's Wind grenades.

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

Matt fired the wind grenades relentlessly, pounding the fake against the roof of the cave like a jackhammer. Rubble started falling in earnest from the damage caused by the fake and the wind grenades but Matt kept up the punishment and continued pounding the fake into the ceiling.

When there was a giant crater in the roof because of the pounding, Matt finally stopped firing and charged up a huge layered wind grenade. The fake Matt fell back to earth, above Matt.

Matt finally stopped charging, aimed his green glowing grenade launcher at the fake, and fired.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Fox was defending himself against the fake Fox when he heard it.

It was a faint roaring noise that kept getting louder and louder, until he didn't even have to strain his ears to hear it.

"Oh, crud." Fox said, when he saw the explosion.

He ducked behind a stalagmite and held on, while the fake Fox looked on in confusion. When the tidal wave of wind hit, the thing Fox remembered about that particular moment the most was the expression on the fake's face.

Fear.

The tidal wave of wind swept the fake Fox away, and Fox flapped like a flag in a gale. He clung to the stalagtite with all of his might, and watched in horror as the cave roof above him...blew outward!?

The cave was exploding!

The ceiling broke up and drifted into the sky like clouds, like many black clouds. The ground started shaking wildly as the rocks started landing around the cave above ground. Fox turned his head against the wind to see Link zipping around using his clawshots.

CHUNK

"AH!" Fox yelped as the stalagmite he was holding shuddered.

"Heya!" Link shouted above the roar of wind. "Nice day, eh?"

"Yeah, right!" Fox shouted back. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Goofing around." Link called back. "This wind reminds me of the sky temple back in Hyrule!"

"Really?"

"Yep." Link said, all smiles. "I thought about it when the fake Link was swept off into the sky."

"Huh...So, you think Matt did this?" Fox asked, trying to be calm."

"Without a doubt." Link said.

"I wonder how he did it." Fox said. "Normally he's not this powerful!"

As he said that, the wind started to fade a little. Fox's feet touched the ground again when the wind faded away completely. A quick look around told him that the cave was completely destroyed. The clouds were visible through the gaping hope above, and the cave now resembled a crater. There was no trace of the MCP left.

"Wow. I wasn't expecting THAT to happen." Matt said, walking out from behind a pile of rubble and stopping in front of Link and Fox.

"What the heck did you do!?" Link screamed.

"Whoa! Chill!-" Matt panicked.

"That was AWESOME!" Link yelled.

"...Uh...Thanks?" Matt said, wearing a confused look on his face.

"What DID you do, anyways?" Fox asked, still surprised. "I want to know before you do something like that again."

"...I really don't know." Matt said, scratching his head. "I was just thinking about trying to use some of my new dark powers, when my cannon turned black. I fired my wind grenade at the fake Me, then...it just sorta...went boom." He finished lamely.

"Oh." Link said, disappointed. "I thought your big Dark Smash or something was gonna be a super nega-laser or something."

"Dark Smash!" Fox yelled triumphantly, snapping his fingers. "Dark smash. That's what we ought to call this weird phenomenon."

"Dark smash...That fits." Matt said. "I wonder what would happen if I tried a thunder grenade, or even a fire grenade!?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" Link and Fox screamed. "NO! DON'T DO IT! DON'T YOU THINK WE'VE HAD ENOUGH FOR ONCE!?"

"For pete's sake, Matt!" Fox groaned. "I think we have to be responsible with our power. Just look at what you did with a WIND attack! We all know wind is one of the weakest elements!"

"Try telling Paul that." Link whispered. "I don't think he'd agree."

"In MY book wind is one of the weakest elements." Fox asserted. "But that's just my point. We don't know how powerful we really are, and to be honest, I'm scared to run into any more demons! How do we know they aren't influencing us somehow? Didn't Meta Knight act different?"

No one answered.

They just looked blankly at each other for a few moments, letting the new knowledge sink in."

"...I think..." Matt started saying. "...That Fox is right. We shouldn't use our dark powers unless we know exactly what this darkness is doing to us. Will you two promise me you won't use your dark powers unless it is a life or death, victory or defeat situation?"

"Without hesitation." Link said valiantly. "I have a feeling that this is what we should do."

"I'm in." Fox said.

"We'll tell the others once we meet up again." Matt said. "I hate to say this, but I think our original group, you know, our team, before we went to the Halberd and found a bunch of our allies? I think we need to split up and continue alone on our search. There's something really strange afoot, and I think we were on the right track."

"Where do you think we ought to travel next, then?" Fox asked.

"We'll figure that out when the time comes." Matt said. "But, for the moment, we still need to finish off the MCP, rescue this Merlin character Paul mentioned, and then either escape the World Government armada without getting captured, or just cream them while we have a chance."

"That's not that much on a list, but that's still a lot to do." Link sighed. "Let's go and get that MCP thingy then, shall we?"

"You are going to die!" The MCP suddenly yelled from nowhere. He zipped back into the room, all lopsided and stuff. It stumble-floated into sight and stopped about twenty feet from them, leering at them with a twisted grin.

"Oh, shut up and go download a new vocabulary synthesizer from google. All you know is, die, user, dead, die...Yeah, shut up and go away." Matt said.

"I will not be made fun of!" The MCP declared.

"Ready to attack!" Paul suddenly called over the intercom. "Gotta time it quick, or the MCP will just duplicate itself again!"

"I think we're ready to try another limit attack." Fox said seriously.

"Yeah?" Matt asked. "That's the same thing I was thinking."

"I have an ideeeea!" Link sang.

"Don't ignore me!" the MCP bawled.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"On my mark!" Tron called out.

"Ready!" Everybody shouted.

"No!" The MCP yelled from the center of a freaking-huge cylindrical room. The room was like a giant tube with a rim around the ground floor walls, where the smashers were standing, and the MCP was hovering above a hole in the ground that glowed with white light.

"3!" Tron yelled, before letting go of his disk. It levitated in front of him, and opened up to reveal what looked like a lens in the center.

"No! Not again!" The MCP yelled, its voice panicky.

"2!" Everybody else yelled. They stood behind Tron and struck up a pose and charged up their energy, and then focused it into Tron's disk.

"You must stop!" The MCP cried. "You do not know what you are doing!"

"1!" Tron yelled.

"...Goodbye!" Paul yelled.

The disk exploded with a thick, focused beam of blue light that fired towards the MCP. It hit him right at the base where he was connected to the main computer system, and took only a second to tear through his firewalls, and ultimately, him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" The MCP screamed. He drifted into the air like a dead fish floating in water, and a second later, the beam followed him up into the air and sliced right through him. He shone bright blue for a moment, then exploded in a giant flash of blue sparks.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The MCP suddenly froze in place with an expression of mortal pain on its face.

"Now!" Link screamed.

"Mega Crash Rocket Punch!" Matt yelled. He stuck his arm out and started morphing his grenade launcher into his fist, but not before Fox rammed his staff into it like a cannon ball. Matt's fist formed around the staff, and started creating a jet engine in the back where the back of the staff protruded. A metal loop appeared on the back of Matt's upper arm. When it appeared Link shot his clawshot at the loop and latched on. Fox climbed up on Matt's back and tied his belt to Matt's belt, and then put his hand on his staff and focused energy into it.

Matt's jet engine kick-started with a rush of red plasma laced with blue energy. Fox then focused a new type of energy into his staff, and the tip where Matt's fist was started glowing deep red.

"Takeoff!" Matt yelled above the roar of the engine. He shot off so fast, Fox got super whiplash, and it only took a second before all of the chain in Link's clawshot was stretched out between the hylian knight and the mechanical genius.

"Uh oh." Link said.

WHAP!

The chain went taut, and Link flew after them like a delayed ballistic missile. He pulled his sword out and held it out in front of him as he flew.

The MCP saw them coming, and flew away for his life.

Matt plowed into it with so much force, the MCP flashed blue and froze. The Quake spell Fox charged his spear with took affect and ripped through the MCP with a series of violent quakes, but that was not the last of the attack.

Link, powered by the super flight and now boosted by the pulling action of the claw shot's chain, went at double speed. He hit the MCP square between the eyes with his sword, and the collision created a Sonicboom.

The last hit did the trick. The MCP flashed red and blue like a strobe light, and started dividing into two in a last ditch effort to duplicate itself, but the two halves crashed back together and exploded in a shower of red and blue sparks.

The three smashers landed on the ground after the MCP faded, then they gave each other high-fives.

"That limit attack was..." Link let the thought hang, since he was at a loss for words.

"Sweet." Fox and Matt echoed.

"But I think I'll pass for a smoother attack next time we need to get out of a pinch." Fox sighed ruefully, rubbing his sore neck.

"Let's get over to Radiant Garden: A whole city needs us right now." Link urged. "C'mon!"

"Let's meet up with the others first, though!" Matt said. "Then we'll leave."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sora was sitting at the computer back in the Radiant Garden laboratory, speaking with Tron and coordinating their efforts.

"Ok...big...green button." Sora said, looking over the keyboard as quick as he could. When he spotted it he let loose an exultant shout. "Found it!" Sora announced.

"Alright, then, Sora." Tron said from the speaker. "Just press that button, and it'll activate the laser that will release all of your friends here back into the real world.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"It was good seeing you again, Tron." Paul said, shaking hands with the friendly ally program. "It sure brought back some good memories, and it's good to know SOMEBODY's willing to help us when things get crazy.

"It was my pleasure to see you through this crisis." Tron said. "I may be able to give you one last bit of help to protect Radiant Garden. Now that the MCP is no more, I can resume control of the city's functions and help fight the armada and their troops off."

"That's incredible." Matt said. "You've already done so much for us. Let us know if there's anything we can do to help, please."

"If I think of something, or run into any trouble, I already know who to call." Tron said with a friendly smile. "It's time for you to leave now, though. Good luck!"

"Thank you again, Mr. Tron!" Fina said before the team vanished in a column of light.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The laser activated in the laboratory, and Sora stepped aside to allow the incoming party some room.

The laser traced the silhouettes of each of the smashers, then repeatedly aimed across the silhouettes to fill them in. The Laser then shut off with a fizzle noise, and motion was restored to the homecomers.

"I don't care what any of you say." Link said, obviously uncomfortable. "I'll never get used to these weird gadgets that keep popping up in my life. First it was the shower...but even worse still was the TV!"

Everybody laughed, and Roy was torn between breathless mirth and renewed horrors.

"WHUZZAT?!" He shrieked, pointing at the computer screen. His question went unnoticed for the time being.

"It's a mess out there." Sora said solemnly as the castle shook with an explosion.

"Yeah?" I wouldn't be surprised." Paul said, looking around warily before turning back to his long-time friend. "But, it's nothing that a bit of keyblade and other random stuff can't fix, right? Welcome back to the Super Smash Brothers, Sora!"

Sora broke into a wide grin. "Just like old times, eh?"

"Just like old times!"

"Hate to break up the reunion, but who else is here?" Matt asked with authority. "We're on a mission, and tiny bits of information like that help a lot."

"Um, if I remember correctly, there's only five of us here, including me." Sora said. "There's me, Midna, Jun, Pit, and Falco."

"Falco's here?" Fox asked, his interest piqued.

"Yeah." Sora said. "He's been moody lately. I'd be careful when approaching him."

"Falco? Moody?" Fox asked. "That's not anything new. I'll handle it."

"And Jun will probably smother Roy. How are you doing anyways, Roy?" Sora asked, looking towards the pyro swordsman.

"Roses are pretty, especially when they are on fire." Roy giggled.

"What's wrong with him?" Sora asked, freaked out.

"I think he hit his head when GUN captured him." Dr. Mario sighed.

"Oh, you two guys got captured?"

"Yes. We escaped, and luckily we ran into these guys here." He said, waving his arm at Paul, Mat, Link, and Fox.

"I really need to learn what's happening here, but that's a story for another time." Sora said. "For now, we take the fight to GUN!"

"Now we're talking!" Ganon cheered.

"All it is is smash smash smush." Link muttered under his breath.

"Anyways, lead us to the fight!" Paul said, casting a sneaky sidelong glance at Link.

"Right!" Sora said. "Um, where are we going after that?"

"We need to see Merlin." Paul said. "It's urgent that we see him because Mario's been transformed, and I figured Merlin would know how to return him to his normal state."

"What is Mario now? A slug?" Sora joked.

"He's a rabbit."

"Oh, well, that's not too bad, is i-"

"He's a rabbid."

"WHAT THE-"

"Just get us to Merlin, Pronto!" Matt said.

"Sorry!" Sora apologized. "Let's go."

They ran from the lab down a metal walkway, into a circular room that used to be a lab. The beige walls were peeling, and the red carpet was buried in bits of rubble. The tables were covered in broken equipment and old papers, and there was a picture of a handsome scientist on the floor. They rushed out of the lab into an old maze of passageways that may have looked nice when they were new, but now they were old and peeling apart.

The smashers bolted through the maze, following after Sora and Paul, who knew the way out. After exiting the passageways they found themselves on a big balcony. They ran from the left side of the balcony over to the right where it met the top of a cliff, where they followed a path towards the city of Radiant Garden.

A minute's hard running brought them into the middle of pure pandemonium. People ran everywhere screaming as black shadows jumped about, slashing with their claws while other monstrosities ran amok. Sora looked on sadly while everybody else's mouths gaped.

They were rudely brought back to earth when the ground next to them exploded, and sent rubble flying into the air.

"We have to stop them!" Sora said. "We'll have to split up and rescue as many people as we can, then group up for the big finale and crush GUN!"

"That's the best plan I've heard today." Cloud said, shielding his face from the debris. "Let's do it!"

They ran into the city as a group, and at the first split in the road they divided up, and flooded into the city. The heartless exploded in a cloud of hearts as the smashers rushed through the narrow streets of the city.

Cloud nearly ran into a lazy that was running away from a heartless. He quickly dodged her and stood in front of her to protect against the shadow jumping at them.

"Stay with me, ma'am." Cloud said.

He steadied his blade, and just as the shadow slashed at him with its claws he rent it in half with his blade, releasing a cloud of darkness and a heart into the sky.

"Thank you!" The lady cried as she retreated.

--

Dr. Mario and Roy blasted through an alley way, with Roy at the front playing the part of the bull-dozer, and Dr. Mario the part of the clean-up crew.

Roy swung his sword around as if he were drunk, while laughing his head off. He hacked away at the heartless, blowing each of them up with a single powerful blow. The ones that Roy managed to miss, Dr. Mario either slammed them into the walls with a kick, or carved them up with his surgical knife.

_Looks like I won't be using this knife for surgery anymore, not after where and how I've used it._ The doctor reflected as he stabbed a heartless in the chest.

"Wheeee whwa hoo hoo!" Roy laughed uproariously as he burnt the alleyway black with a Flare blade attack.

"COUGH." Dr. Mario coughed, burnt completely black. "Watch what you're doing, you imbecile!"

"He he, I'm sowwe Doc." Roy apologized childishly.

--

"PIT!" Matt roared. "PIIIIIT!"

BLAM!

Matt fired his gun point-blank into the face of a heartless Shadow, and instantly vaporized it. A cloud of Blue Rhapsodies and Red Nocturnes flew over the roof of a nearby house, and started shooting destructive Fire and Blizzard spells everywhere. Paul dashed in front of Matt and used Reflect to return the spells.

Matt whirled around and gunned the heartless down, then whipped his metal arm around to elbow a heartless behind him. He quickly faced the stumbling heartless, and blasted through it with a rocket punch.

"PIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Matt shouted to the sky.

"Reporting for-" Pit started saying as he flew into view, but when he locked eyes with Matt, he nearly fell out of the sky with surprise. "MATT!"

"Hey, Pit." Matt waved. "How's it been going?" Matt asked in a small attempt at small talk.

"We have a serious situation here!" Pit panicked. "Those G.U.N ships are getting closer! I was trying to hold them off, but I'm one angel too few!"

"I've got a solution." Paul offered. "Fox!"

Fox whacked the last heartless in the area, and ran over to his two partners.

"Yeah? Whatcha need?" He asked.

"Float!" Paul yelled, shooting a ball of magic at Fox.

"WHOA!" he yelled. He tried dodging it, but it hit him. He glowed for a second, and started hovering above the ground.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" He shouted.

"I just made you able to fly, is all." Paul said. "Just use your mind to direct yourself, and you'll be fine!"

"...I'll trust you, but if I get maimed or something stupid it'll be your fault." Fox warned.

"No prob!" Paul said, kicking off the ground and flying up next to Fox and Pit.

"Then how are you doing THAT?" Fox asked Paul.

"I've been blessed by Pixie Dust." Paul replied. "I can fly, but only when I'm happy. It's kinda crazy. I learned Float as backup in case I started falling...I hate heights when they're dangerous." Paul said. "But as long as I can fly, I'll go anywhere!"

"Yeah, ok, Captain Courageous." Fox said. "What's the plan?"

"Simple and painless as it gets." Paul smiled mischievously. "...For us, that is. Intercept the cannonballs and use your reflector!"

"I have a mirror shield." Pit offered. "It's what I was doing until you two came along. I appreciate the help!"

"Ok, then let's get cracking!" Fox said, pulling out his reflector.

--

"On your right, Jun!" Midna shouted as she blasted a heartless with a ray of twilight energy.

"Thanks, Midna!" Jun replied, turning around and shooting exploding embers at a heartless. She saw Roy running towards her, and then saw the black figure behind him. "ROY! WATCH OUT!" She screamed in fear.

"Lovey Dovey!" Roy said, all smiles. He ran towards her, and when he was just a few feet away, she shot more embers at the figure behind him.

"OW! SHOOT!" Dr. Mario bellowed, slapping his shirt to smother the fire now spreading over his body.

"Sorry!" Jun yelled. "I thought you were a heartless!"

"Far from it, Jun." Dr. Mario smiled ruefully. "How's it been going, kid?"

"Bad." Jun answered sadly. "The only good news we've heard is that you've been causing GUN loads of trouble."

"Its whaaaa-at we dooooooo BEEEEEEEST!" Roy sang, spinning on one foot and mowing heartless down with his sword.

"What's wrong with him?" Jun asked worriedly, shooting some embers at a group of Blue Rhapsodies.

"He hit his head." Dr. Mario replied shortly, whipping a heartless with his stethoscope. "Complete loss of sanity."

"We have enough bad news!" Midna yelped, ducking under a claw swipe from a nearby heartless. She grabbed its head with her hair/hand, and crushed it to powder while shooting little twilight balls at other heartless. "I'm sorry to hear Roy's now legally insane, but that doesn't mean a thing if we're all dead!"

"I thought I heard you yelling!"

"LINK!?" Midna cried, looking around with wide eyes for her friend. A heartless took the opportunity to jump her, and she could only watch in horror as it fell towards her, getting closer, claw drawn out to steal her heart...

THWIP!

The heartless took an arrow in the back and went sailing for a few feet before it exploded, and Link ran into view, hacking and slashing at the heartless surrounding the smashers so he could help defend.

When Link was safely in the middle of the battle with them, Midna greeted Link with a touch of annoyance.

"You know, you should have stayed outside the ring." Midna said, slapping her head in shame. "Now you're stuck too!"

Link took a second to digest this new information, then laughed. He grabbed Midna in a bear hug, and said, "It's good to see you too, Midna!"

The smashers laughed hard, and pressed on against the heartless stronger than before.

--

PING!

The three smashers in the sky flew around as fast as they could, returning most of the cannonballs to their owners, and shooting down the ones that were way out of reach.

"We're still not fast enough!" Fox yelled as he batted a cannonball back with his staff.

"I don't have enough magic for any more haste spells!" Paul shouted as he reflected a bunch of cannonballs while flying into them.

Pit aimed his bow at a cannonball about fifty feet away, and blew it up with one of his light arrows before replying. "We need help." Pit answered honestly.

"And you'll be getting it!" A cocky voice yelled.

"Falco!" Fox said, turning around to see his best pilot zooming past on his Arwing.

Falco was standing on the cockpit of the Arwing, his arms crossed across his chest, which was thrust outward in an insanely cocky pose. He looked at Fox and gave him an even cockier smile, then be flipped up into the air as his cockpit opened. He landed inside and sealed it shut fast, then took off after the big ships above.

They focused their fire on him for a few seconds, but he blew right past their defenses, did a u-turn and flew right back above them, and destroyed all of the cannons on one ship with his lasers in only about five seconds.

"OH YEAH!" Falco yelled triumphantly.

"Sorry guys, but I'm better on wings than magic." Fox shouted back to Paul and Pit. Falco opened his cockpit and held out his hand for a high-five, which Fox gave him. Fox then caught the right wing of the Arwing and hauled himself up, and then Falco passed him a big plasma cannon.

"Time to turn up the heat on these creeps." Falco said. "Ya ready, Foxie?"

"Good to see you again, too, Bird Breath." Fox retorted. "OPEN FIRE!"

"You want them medium, or well done?" Falco asked.

"I want them burnt." Fox replied seriously. "Go for it!"

"YEE HAWWWWW!!" Falco shouted. He boosted back towards the ship, and Fox charged his cannon up with energy so that instead of shooting red basketball sized laser balls, they were blue, and bigger than beach balls. The cannon roared away like a machine gun, and it took only one pass along the side of a GUN ship to gut it, end to end.

The burning corpse of a ship fell from the sky, and crashed in the blue plains around the city. It erupted into a large ball of fire, and burned even harder than before.

In response, the other ships sprouted a large assortment of guns, and started going berserk, shooting everywhere with laser guns, cannons, spells...and underpants.

"What are you doing, soldier!?" One of the captains roared, smacking the soldier upside the head with an armored fist.

"We're outta ammo!" The soldier complained. "I thought the underwear would demoralize them!"

"Who's underpants were they, soldier!?" The captain yelled into the soldiers ear.

"They were Bob's!" The soldier shouted back.

"HOLY !" The captain screamed in horror.

The underpants got caught in a draft, and floated back towards the ship. The underpants were green with age, and smelled like something straight from the underworld.

The underpants struck the side of the ship, and in a second the whole ship was destroyed by a gigantic green cloud of acidic stinkiness.

The smashers watched in horror as the cloud of stink ate the ship up, and after a few moments it dissipated and left absolutely nothing behind.

"Holy crap!" Ganondorf shouted in shock, looking up at the sky where the ship USED to be.

"Holy crap?" Yoshi questioned. "To do something like THAT, it would have to be Devil crap."

"EWW! You're disgusting!" Ganon shouted, before running off to gag.

--

Back on the ground, things were finally starting to get back under control.

The number of GUN soldiers was rapidly diminishing, and the heartless were already starting to give up.

Link wielded his sword with both hands, slashing through his opponents with great strength. Roy and Jun followed behind him, shooting fire at distant enemies and piercing the ones nearby, while Midna scouted for other targets. Dr. Mario ran around taking out enemies while looking for injured innocents, whom he brought back to health with a few of his Mega Vitamins.

The fight was just about over, when a gigantic ship slowly came into view.

At first, the smashers thought it was another enemy ship...but as it came into view...

"It's the Halberd!" Cloud whooped.

"WHOO HOO!" Link cheered.

The cannons on the Halberd flashed, and a cloud of laser beams flew forward and slammed into the sides of the GUN ships. The sound was like a Fireworks show, and as the lasers continued punching holes in the ships they started exploding, sending out shockwaves that shook the ground and air.

The last ship disappeared amidst an explosion that sounded like an amplified crack of thunder, and after the smoke cleared the sky was completely blue and cloudless.

--

"We found you by tracking your signal on the internet." Meta Knight explained later, back in Ansem's lab.

So, you used this 'signal' in the real world to pinpoint out location and home in on us?" Paul asked. "That's interesting."

"I'm glad to know that everybody is alright." Meta Knight said, turning to face Sora, Jun, pit, Midna, and Falco with kind eyes.

"Poyo!" Kirby squealed happily, dancing about on his tip toes.

"...I was thinking about this." Matt said. "I really hate to say it, but I think me and my group are splintering from the main operation for now."

"How do you mean?" Meta Knight asked.

Matt looked up from his feet, and uncrossed his arms. "There's something strange afoot that we were looking into before, and I feel that it's the key to everything that's happening here."

"So, you wish to continue searching in a small, but trusted group, and your objective is to find the cause of these incidents, am I right?" Meta Knight queried.

"Yes. I don't think this is our place right now." Matt affirmed. "Of course, we will keep in touch and everything, but for the moment, we work alone."

"I see." Meta Knight said. He faced the new rescuees, and said, "So, I believe you'll be taking up residence with me for the moment?"

"What else can we do?" Sora asked. "All I can say, is, whatever is happening, I hope you and Paul can fix it."

"Be careful, Roy." Jun insisted.

"I'll be cool, muffin." Roy smiled.

_I wonder if he understood me..._ Jun wondered as she turned and looked out of the nearest window.

"If Link wants to go alone, I'll respect his privacy." Midna sighed.

"Admit it." Falco said. "You just wanna nag him."

"Shut up." Midna snarled. She grabbed his beak with her hair/hand, and clamped it shut.

"Good luck, everybody." Pit said. "It was pleasant to work with you again."

"As was with you." Fox nodded appreciatively. "We have to go find Merlin now, so take care, ok, everybody?"

"We will!" The Ice Climbers shouted, jumping up and down crazily.

"Goodbye, for now!" Ness called out.

"POYO!" Kirby agreed.

"Pichu!"

"If you die, Link, I'll bring you to life with my Triforce of Power, and kill you again!" Ganon threatened.

"You're the one that'll get their butt kicked." Link smiled wide. "You'd be better off leaving me dead!"

"Why, you!-"

"Just be careful." Cloud said. "I'll help out any way I can, just remember to give us a call."

"Of course." Matt said. "Goodbye!"

"Bye!" Everybody said.

--

"Looks like we're on our own again." Dr. Mario said as they walked down the empty road.

"Yeah..." Matt said reflectively.

"We're getting into something really dangerous." Ness said. "But I have a weird feeling only we're able to do this, nobody else."

"It's like our moment to shine has finally come." Link said. "This is why we're here, so let's do it, eh?"

"I'm baffled by all this." Yoshi sighed. "I wonder how Sonic's doing?"

"MUFFINS!" Roy screamed.

Mat ignored Roy. "That's a good question. We'll have to see him again when we're not busy. I know he needed the time to get his head clear, but after this...there's no turning back. We have a duty to protect the universe against evil, and whether he likes it or not he can't relax forever."

"So, what should we do after we return Mario to normal?" Paul asked. "Continue our investigation of the demons, or try stopping Gun?"

"I'd say stop GUN first." Matt said. "We don't know what the demons are capable of yet, but it's not like they're destroying anything. GUN is, so they're my top target, personally."

"Ok." Ness said. "We'll fix Mario up good, then we'll attack GUN some more!"

"What really worries me, though, is that GUN found us." Dr. Mario said. "Didn't we literally just disappear into thin air? And yet they found us..."

"I don't know what it means." Matt said. "But when the moment of truth comes, we'll be prepared."

They stopped in front of the door of an ordinary house that was crammed into the town like the rest of the houses, but there was nothing really special about it.

"This the place?" Mat asked Paul.

"Yeah, unless he moved, which I doubt." Paul replied.

"W-Will he zap us if we make him mad?" Luigi stuttered fearfully.

"Naw." Paul said. "He won't."

"Whew!" Luigi sighed. He relaxed a little, but tensed up a tiny bit as Link pushed the door open.

"It's about time you people showed up!" Merlin yelled from the back of his house. He was busily packing up his things, waving his wand about and tossing all of his belongings into a small suitcase-like bag. Furniture floated about in the air, and sank into the bag, shrinking down to the size of miniature toys by the time they reached the bottom of the bag.

Everybody stared in shock at the event except for Paul, who addressed Merlin.

"Sorry, we were kept busy." Paul laughed sheepishly.

"...H-How did you know we were coming?" Link blurted in surprise.

"Yeah!" Yoshi said in agreement.

Paul leaned over and whispered into their ears. "Don't ask me how, but he somehow lives his life backwards, so he knows everything that's going to happen in the future, but nothing of the past."

"Oh." Matt replied blankly. "...Oh." He said a moment afterward.

"Well, why are you smashers surprised?" Merlin asked, walking up to them and holding his brown bag. "You knew I was coming with you, yes?"

"Y-yes, I guess." Matt said. "...I'm sorry for asking this, but do you know the outcome of this war?"

"Matt!" Everybody yelled.

The magician faced the young genius, and stroked his long white beard. Merlin wasn't the tallest person around, he was probably about five and a half feet tall of so. He wore a simple blue robe and a matching blue cone hat speckled with white stars. He had knowledgeable brown eyes, which rested in his head behind a pair of glasses, and his white beard nearly touched the floor it was so long.

"...For some reason I can't tell you..." Merlin said, thoughtfully. "I can't tell you what fate has in store for you. I would be going against the laws of magic and the universe if I told you that."

"I had to ask." Matt sighed.

"Don't worry, m'boy." Merlin said. "If I'm alive right now, it can't be too bad of a future, eh?"

"So you'll help us?" Matt asked.

"I already have!" Merlin said.

"Huh!?" Matt said, his face a comical expression of confusion.

"Think backwards." Paul said.

"Oh." Matt grunted. "Thanks for your help, Merlin."

"You're most certainly welcome." Merlin said. "Now, we were headed for the Mushroom kingdom?"

"Yeah." Matt said, uneasy. "Let's go."

They walked out of Merlin's house, and headed for their ship, back at the halberd. The rest of the smashers were still up in the bridge, waiting for the gummi to take off on its sojourn once more.

They were entering the Halberd, when Matt stepped to the side and let everybody else in, first. Paul stopped and looked expectantly at him.

"He...he makes me nervous." Matt admitted.

"I don't blame you." Paul said. "But if you can trust me, you can trust him."

"I'll take your word for it." Matt said, before turning and entering the ship.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few minutes later, the Gummi Ship blasted up into space for the long journey back to the mushroom kingdom.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**SOOOOOOOO...How didja like it? This is the longest chapter of this story so far. What else awaits our heroes as they return to the mushroom kingdom?**

**I've finally started writing down my ideas for this story, and by the looks of things, this story will seriously dwarf Supremacy. I'm already up to a third of the amounts of chapters in Supremacy, and my chapters are already getting to be super huge.**

**By the looks of things, this story could very well hit 400,000 words before chapter 120, and this story could go past that, chapter wise.**

**I'm looking forward to seeing your reviews, and I'm really excited about this story again! YAYZ! I'll try to keep updating often, which should happen more often now that I'm graduating from school tomorrow. Yep, I'm almost outta high school! YEAH!**

**Well, I'll see you all next time! Keep your peeps out for me, I'm just getting started!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	41. Was this Supposed to Happen?

**Heh heh, sorry! Two things happened that were really good!**

**1. I GRADUATED! No more high school for me! However, this is not the offender. #2 is.**

**2. I GOT A WII! If somebody would be kind enough to tell me where I can find my wii number, whether it be in the booklets or on my wii somewhere, I'd be glad to battle people over the internet once I get Wi-Fi.**

**Yeah, I got SSB Brawl, and I must say, I LOVES IT! BWA HA HA! Yeah, ahem...anyways, the story continues with our team of heroes, and Merlin, as they head back to the Mushroom Kingdom. Does anybody remember what happened there a couple of chapters ago? If you do...you might know where this is going. If not, well, you can head back and read if you like. It's your time!**

**Now, let's start up again, shall we?**

**Oh, yeah, I also saw Iron Man, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So far, this summer's been awesome! (Always loved Indiana Jones movies...Yeah, good shtuff.)**

**-Chapter XXXXI-**

**-Was This Supposed to Happen?-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"PIPICHU!" Pichu insisted, stepping towards Kirby.

"Neh!" Kirby said, holding his muffin out of Pichu's reach.

"PI!"

"Dang!" Link yelled, annoyed. "Cut it out and just share the treat already!"

"Poyo..." Kirby sighed. He broke the muffin in half, and after a moment's hesitation gave the larger piece to Pichu. She smiled sweetly and gave Kirby a tiny kiss, then waddled off to eat the muffin. Kirby waited till Pichu was gone out of the cockpit, then he popped the muffin into his mouth and hopped into his chair next to Link.

Link had snuggled back into his comfy position, and was busy sawing logs once again. His hat was over his face, and his legs were propped up on the back of the chair in front of him.

"How are we doing, Crazy?" Fox asked as he sat in the pilot's chair, looking out the front window of the ship.

"We're approximately halfway to the Mushroom Kingdom, Sah." Crazy said, adopting a funny accent. "Take a nap, Mistah worksie."

"Can't." Fox replied. "I've a job to do."

"Like WHAT?"

"Like keeping Link away from the controls."

"Hey!" Link complained. "I heard that!"

"I know you're just sitting there, waiting for me to move into a different room!" Fox laughed at Link's indignation. "You can't deny it!"

Busted.

Grumbling, Link re-assumed his sleeping position and tried his best to get back to sleep, for real this time.

"So, Kirby." Fox said.

"Poyo?"

"Is Bowser still in the hold?" Fox asked.

"Pyo!" Kirby said, flouncing about in his chair. He squinted his eyes and growled, and sliced the air with pretend claws.

"He's mauling the cargo bay?"

"Poyo."

"Darn." Fox said. "Well, if everything goes well, he can stay in the Mushroom Kingdom after we fix up Mario."

"Pip Poyo?" Kirby asked.

"Why can't Mario help us?" Fox repeated what Kirby said. "'Cause he's not corrupted yet, and the fewer of us there are the better. He's got more to lose than some of us."

"Proyo?"

"What do I think...?" Fox left the thought hanging a moment before answering. "...I don't know what I think about this, Kirby... I wish we had something to guide us...I feel like we're running in the darkness with no light to guide us."

"Poyo..." Kirby agreed sadly.

"Why don't you use the Star Rod to make yourself talk again?" Fox inquired.

"Poyo."

"You feel that it should be used for more selfless things like saving the world, instead of just granting petty things like people's whims?"

"Poyo!"

"Strong words, Kirby." Fox said. "But, I'll respect your decision."

Kirby nodded fiercely, then sat back down on his seat and looked out of the window. After awhile, his attention was drawn to the holographic battle going on in the computer.

It was a free-for-all with Paul, Matt, Luigi, and Ness battling.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

RATATATATATATATATA!

Matt fired a hail of ice bullets at Ness, who shielded himself with a blast of PK Fire. Luigi shot himself at Matt with a Green missile attack, and Paul jumped at Ness from behind, with his sword drawn. Matt sidestepped Luigi, and Ness blocked Paul's attack with his bat.

Ness deflected the attack and ducked to dodge Paul's left fist, and brought his bat up to whack Paul's shin. Paul did a silly high-kick to dodge the bat, then he smacked Ness with the flat of his sword. Ness ground his feet into the ground to stop, then he fired a powerful PK Flash fused with PK Fire and PK Thunder. The orange bolt of lightning grew as it closed in on Paul, and by the time it reached him it was already the size of half a car. A sidestep proved futile because the attack looped around and came right back at the magic swordsman, gaining in speed and power.

"Fiery Serpent!" Paul shouted. He traced a figure eight in the air, and stabbed his sword where the middle of the eight was. A spiraling fireball erupted from his sword and snaked its way towards the orange bolt of flaming lightning, and it exploded upon contact. Ness' attack pressed through the smoke, bigger than before. It hit Paul and created a giant flaming inferno laced with lightning, and it only took Paul a second to run out of the fire, screaming like a girl and running faster than the wind.

Luigi threw a punch at Matt, who sidestepped and countered with his own punch. Paul came quickly into view, screaming at the top of his voice. The two interrupted their fight a moment to dive out of the way as Paul ran past, and over the edge. The resulting explosion was proof that Paul was down another stock.

Luigi looked at Matt and shrugged, then they continued their fight. Luigi jumped at Matt again and aimed a karate chop at Matt, who moved to let the attack hit his metallic shoulder. He grabbed Luigi by the scruff of the neck with his other arm, then tossed him into the air and launched a water grenade at him. Luigi dodged the blast by twisting away. He then charged up his fist, and punished Matt with a bolt of lightning.

"Ow." Matt coughed. "Good lightning attack."

"Thanks!" Luigi said, with a little more confidence than usual.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Wow." Link said. "Are we really getting this good?"

"Yeah, by the looks of it." Dr. Mario said. He had just come up from below, and was watching the battle.

"Yeah!" Yoshi agreed. "Look! They can barely hit each other, if at all, and those guys keep on coming up with crazy attack combos!"

Ness unleashed his PK Maelstrom again, which Paul countered with a Reflect attack. Ness intercepted the misguided missile attack he created, and absorbed it with his PSI Magnet to restore all of his damage.

"And they're getting more resourceful, as well." Link said. "Makes me wonder if it'll be enough in the end, though."

"We aren't dead yet, and our quest is nowhere near as hard as our last, so I think we'll be ok." Fox said from the pilot's seat.

"...Some of us still have yet to unleash our full potential." Dr. Mario observed, still watching the battle intently. "Ness, Pichu, Yoshi, and myself have yet to unlock our full power."

"You talking about stuff like my Holy Blade attack?" Link asked.

"Yes, that is exactly what I am speaking of." Dr. Mario said. "I can't help but wonder what I'd be able to do with that kind of power."

"You could probably bring somebody back to life." Link said. "I think that's what you'd be able to do."

"...Hmm." The doctor hummed as he folded his hands on his lap and leaned back.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"C'mon, Ness!" Paul said. "You gotta try something else!"

"No!" Ness protested. "I just came up with this attack, and I'm going to need to master it before I really need it. Imagine being stuck in a bad situation, and messing up the only attack that will save your life and the life of others!"

"Uh...I didn't think of that." Paul said lamely.

"Yeah...so if you please, do whatever you like but let me fight how I like!"

"Ok, I didn't mean to be bossy!" Paul said, getting back into his fighting stance.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-Roughly half an hour later-

Paul, upon exiting the portal created by the hologram machine, collapsed on the ground and moaned dejectedly.

"Didja see!?" Ness nearly screamed in excitement. "I CREAMED Paul!"

"Am I still in outer space?" Paul asked from the floor behind the young psychic.

"Yeah, we saw what happened..." Link said, sharing a significant look with Dr. Mario. They both were still stunned at the fireworks show they just witnessed.

"Ness?" Dr. Mario said, while Link helped Paul up off the ground.

"Yeah?"

"I think you mastered PK Maelstrom." Dr. Mario stated.

"Mamma mia!" Luigi said. "I'm glad I'm on YOUR side."

"Me too." Matt said, putting his good arm around Luigi's neck. "We're just getting better together. At this rate, we'll be able to take that slimy GUN commander on and put the squeeze on him!"

"SQUEEZE!" Roy yelled exuberantly.

"Don't encourage him." Link whispered into Matt's ear.

"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!" Roy repeated as he skipped around the room like a maniac.

"Hold on, guys...We're just a minute away from Peach's castle." Fox informed the group.

"Darn." Crazy said, from the screen. "At this rate, Roy'll put me outta business!"

"He's already giving you a run for your money." Dr. Mario said. "I still can't decide whether I prefer you as the master of disaster, or if I like Roy crazy."

"Aww." Crazy sighed. "Gimme 'nother chance!"

"I'll consider it." Dr. Mario replied sarcastically.

Matt released Luigi and the group turned to head to the exit, when Paul tapped Matt on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" Matt asked. "Ya need something?"

"...I think I have bad news, Matt." Paul said seriously.

"Uhm...No offense, I don't see why you're confiding whatever it is to me that you have to say."

"I feel you can sympathize more with me...maybe." Paul said. "I...I'm at my limit."

"...Huh?" Matt asked aloud. "...Are you saying you're going to QUIT?"

"No. What I mean, is...I can't get any stronger." Paul explained. "I've kinda noticed it for awhile...But I need to fess up. I haven't improved in weeks, I'm starting to fall behind, and Ness beating me today has just really...proven that I'm starting to fall behind."

"...You feel useless, like you're going to start dragging the team?" Matt asked. "Like you'll slow us down?"

"I WILL slow us down." Paul said. "Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Remember the man that looks like me that wears a black cloak?" Paul asked.

"Uh...yeah, I do, as a matter of fact." Matt asked. "Ezel, if I remember correctly. What's he got top do with this?"

"He's me."

"Wait...So half of you is bad?" Matt asked.

"No! It's weird...He was created in an accident when Sora and I were on our quest to defeat Organization XIII about a year ago. He's me, but then again he's not. He's my Nobody."

"Sora has a nobody named Roxas, right?" Matt asked. "He's a good guy, but why's Ezel...?"

"Everyone has their little angels and devils that sit on their shoulders." Paul said. "but, I doubt anybody has to deal with their little devil in PERSON, like I have to."

"Let me guess, when you got split, your evil was separated from you as a nobody, and..."

"He's got half of everything I have. My powers, my appearance...Everything. I can't improve unless he improves, and unless I can get my power back, I'm going to be stuck at this power level for the rest of my life."

"So..."

"Don't tell anybody else. To gap between our powers isn't large yet, but sooner or later, I'm going to have to hunt down my other and destroy him."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The gummi ship landed in a small clearing a couple of hundreds of feet just from the castle, and the door on the side opened up to allow the team egress.

"Ya'll be good now, and come back soon!" Crazy drawled from the speaker.

"Yeah, yeah." Everybody echoed as they walked towards the castle.

They walked on though the leafy shade of the forest, and after a few minutes, emerged from the forest close to the castle.

"Home sweet home!" Luigi sighed happily.

"I wonder if anybody expected us to get back so soon?" Yoshi wondered. "...I don't see anybody lowering the drawbridge."

"You're right..." Dr. Mario said. "I wonder if they're just having breakfast?"

"I don't know." Matt said. "Something's suspicious..."

"He he! Giant weird dents!" Roy's moronic voice cheered from somewhere nearby. Everybody turned to see him dancing in and out of odd grooves in the ground.

"Well, THAT'S odd." Ness said as he scratched his head.

"What?" Luigi asked. "Roy dancing and being his usual moronic self, or the grooves?"

"Both." Matt answered, tense. "I think GUN's been here."

"WHAT!?" Everybody yelled.

"It doesn't look like any battles happened here!" Yoshi said, wildly looking around.

Matt didn't reply, instead he walked up to where the drawbridge was. It was pulled up like before, and hadn't moved in the small amount of time the team had been there.

"I'll go in." Link offered as he pulled out his clawshot. "I'll cut the chain on the bridge and let it down in I run into trouble."

"Good thinking." Yoshi said. "'Cept if this is a trap, you'll just get...whatever happens."

"Lighten up." Link said, flashing his pearly whites. "I'll be back in a jiffy."

With that, Link aimed his clawshot at the top of the drawbridge and pressed the trigger. The claw shot out and dug into the wooden bridge, and in a whoosh of air Link hurtled towards the bridge at high speed. He landed on his feet on the side of the bridge, and ran up the underside of it up to the point highest in the air. He vaulted over the top, and was gone.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Things went from suspicious to bad really fast.

Link landed hard on the ground, and nearly threw up.

There was a dead Toad laying by the crank, with a large hole in his chest where a laser most likely pierced him. He'd been there awhile, too.

Link looked around in horror, seeing more of the toads laying about, sprawled all over the place.

Without hesitating, Link grasped his sword and cleaved the large chain connecting the winch to the drawbridge.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Oh my..." Luigi gasped. He was too stunned to say anything else.

"I thought I smelled something odd." Yoshi gagged, covering his big nose with his hands, which was a very difficult task to accomplish.

"GUN was here, all right." Matt whispered as he inspected the poor toad that used to control the drawbridge. "I'd recognize those laser blast wounds anywhere."

"Not to sound dark or anything..." Dr. Mario said, "But, if some of our allies-"

"Just say their names!" Link yelled.

Dr. Mario gulped. "If Peach and Mario are dead, and they're still here...we need to find them."

Luigi hit the ground with a thud.

"I agree." Ness said. "We better find out what happened, and fast."

"Poyo..." Kirby sobbed, sorry for the poor lost toads.

"We'll avenge them." Paul said, with a slight touch of venom. "They'll not get away with it."

The group, having reached a universal agreement, picked up and headed towards the main lobby to search the castle. Yoshi picked up Luigi's unconscious form and rested him on his back, and trotted after everybody else.

The lobby wasn't any better than the main entryway. There were bodies there, too. The rest of the entrances that led deeper into the castle were buried under rubble, making the lobby a dead end.

"...What's this?" Matt asked, stooping to the ground to look at something.

"...EW!" Paul said. "I'm sorry, but this is almost too much for me!"

"Huh?"

"Just so everybody knows..." Paul said, backing up, "I'm SUPER squeamish, so don't hold anything against me if I throw up!"

"It's...Toadsworth's hand..." Yoshi said, blankly.

Matt gingerly picked up the dismembered hand from the floor, and turned it over in his hands.

"I don't know who did this, but I'm about to retch myself." Matt said weakly.

"What'd they do?" Dr. Mario asked. Matt allowed him to see, and the doctor winced horribly.

"They must have had some sick sense of humor to carve a message into Toadsworth's hand." Matt explained. "If this isn't enough proof, then I don't know what is."

_**  
**_"_**G.U.N.**_"

"Was this supposed to happen?" Roy asked in a somber, innocent voice.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Yes, the bad guys are twisted, but when will this end? Are Mario and Peach alright? What will happen next? And is Toadsworth still alive?**

**You all will find out soon enough.**

**Sorry it took me so long to update, everybody! I'm not trying to find excuses, I'm just stating facts: I graduated, I got a wii, I got brawl, and I rented Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn and played it for, like, a week straight until I beat it. It took me sixty hours! THAT'S LONG!!**

**Anyways...Yeah, the only rental place near my house is Blockbuster, and they're too expensive, so I won't have too many distractions for now. I must say, though, I very much enjoyed playing Radiant Dawn. I found it to be challenging, exciting, enjoyable, and all that good stuff we can expect from Nintendo.**

**Well, I'll be back, and soon, too! Seriously! Please trust me!**

**Thank you all for reading, and see ya again super soon!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	42. Discovery

Whew

**Whew! Man, I love the wii! It'll take awhile before I get tired of Brawl, so when I get Wi-Fi, I'll be sure to accept some challenges here and there. Just so you people know, I'll be playing Ike, and I WON'T let up on you at all...so you better come prepared.**

**If anybody wishes to challenge me, these are the rules we'll fight under. I fight with stock-matches, and just for the sake of seeing who is more skilled, we'll only use Smash Balls on low appearance. And one more warning: if you've played Ike, you may have noticed he is slightly slow and hard to play.**

**I'm fast.**

**Now that that's all finished, I also play Marth. You can choose who you want me to play when you challenge me, but I'm just as good with one as I am with the other.**

**Ok, back to the story. Our heroes just returned to Toadstool castle to find it dark and full of death like a crypt, with no trace of Mario or Peach, and a gruesome message carved into the hand of Toadsworth. Is he still alive? Where are Peach and Mario, and where will this take our heroes next? Find out, in...**

**-Chapter XXXXII-**

**-Discovery-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"What do we do now?" Ness choked.

"We're going to find out what GUN's doing." Matt said. "I'm going to hack their Database again and see if I can dig anything up on their locations."

"Here we go again." Dr. Mario sighed. "Where do we go from here?"

"I was thinking of paying the swamp base another visit." Matt explained. "We wiped out GUN there, and it's very unlikely anybody came back to retrieve the equipment. The only possible issue there might be is that the computers and equipment there may be in bad condition."

"You're a genius, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem." Link said casually.

"If you say so." Matt replied. "For now, let's go...I'll make sure these toads didn't die in vain."

"I'll never forgive GUN." Yoshi sniffed sadly. "Never. These guys didn't do anything to them, and they just waltzed in and murdered everybody!"

"They'll pay, Yoshi, if it's the last thing we do." Ness assured his pal.

The team turned to leave the crypt. Yoshi stayed behind a moment to look around one last time, then he trotted after the rest of the group.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"The more this war continues, the more it becomes clear we're dealing not with normal evil, but madness as well." Fox said.

Fox was sitting in the pilot's seat again, and everybody was in their seats.

"Bowser's been oddly silent after hearing the news." Matt said, from the co-pilot's seat. "...I have a feeling he isn't taking this well."

"Look! I just saw it myself, and I'M still freaked out!" Paul shouted.

"That's because you're squeamish." Ness said. "Bowser actually knew some of those toads that were killed, I'm sure he worried about Toadsworth and Mario, which I doubt he'd ever admit, and then there's Peach..."

Link looked up at the roof of the cockpit, and heaved a huge sigh. "Peach...I wonder if she's still ok, and Mario too..."

"Hold on a sec." Luigi said. "Didn't Peach give you a mirror of hers, Matt? One that lets you speak with her?"

"I tried." Matt sighed. He held up the pink mirror as he spoke. "It doesn't work. I don't think she has the other with her, and there's also a chance the other's been destroyed."

"Oh..."

Roy frowned, and asked, "It went bye bye, then?"

"Yeah, Roy, it might have gone bye bye." Matt replied. "At any rate, we won't be in touch any time soon."

The room was silent for a couple of minutes, then Matt suddenly jumped up and kicked the wall angrily.

"That commander! I don't know how he does it, but he's always a step ahead of us!" Matt roared. "We've been completely derailed because we were so focused on helping Mario that when he went and kidnapped him, he effectively made us waste our time!"

"How could he do that, though?" Link wondered. "I don't know of anything that could help him to fight us...Unless he can have premonitions like Zelda!"

"Uh...Link?" Paul asked.

"Yeah?"

"Uh, Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom...So..."

"Oh, yeah." Link said. "...Oops."

"Let's just get in there and hack the computers already!" Luigi said. "My brother's been kidnapped!"

"Ok, everybody." Matt said. "Let's go."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The ship opened up in the middle of a field of dirt, amidst a forest of dirty and torn tents. Just a week or two ago they were filled with busy soldiers, but they now stand like a ghost camp out in the swamplands.

Grass was already sprouting up on the worn paths where soldiers used to amble about like busy ants, and the broken remnants of equipment lay everywhere. There were parts of a truck that were scattered everywhere from when the smashers blew it up in a distraction.

A quick look around proved the camp was deserted.

"Judging by the layout of this camp, I'd say that tent way over there used to be the main work center." Paul said. He was shading his eyes with his left hand, and with his right he pointed to a long, large tent that lay beneath a canopy of large trees, covering it in shade and partially hiding it from sight.

"I think you're right on." Fox agreed.

"P-Pichu!" Pichu squeaked in fright.

"No, there's no more soldiers or giant spiders around here." Link assured the tiny mouse pokemon.

"Thank goodness!" Dr. Mario and Yoshi echoed.

"You better let me in on the action, or I'm gonna rampage." A voice growled behind them. They turned to see Bowser crawling out of the ship, and frankly, he looked pale.

"Bowser." Luigi acknowledged him.

"Seriously, guys." Bowser whined. "I'm pale and weak from lack of food, light, and fights, and I got a score to settle too! Please let me help!"

"Sure!" Link said, flashing a shiny grin. "Just don't eat Pichu."

"SQUEEEEEE!!"

"Chill out, mousy." Bowser growled. "I'm not gonna eat you."

"Pi.." Pichu sighed.

"POYO!" Kirby yelled, pointing at the tent.

"Yeah, I want to know where my brother and Peach are too." Luigi said. "Can we PLEASE go?"

"Going." Matt replied, walking towards the tent briskly.

The team wandered through the maze of tents for about a minute or two before finally reaching the tent. They stepped under the hanging canvas to find a series of computers in a row on desks, with all kinds of other machines resting behind them. Fanning out from the central computer section, there were an assortment of desks and other odds and ends that the soldiers used to do their work.

Matt automatically walked over to the computers, and started with the one on the far left.

He sat down and booted it up, and as he was dusting the screen off, the monitor exploded.

"Matt!" Fox shouted in shock. He rushed over to his companion as the smoke cleared, and picked his pal up off the dusty floor.

"You ok?" He asked his blackened friend.

"Yeah...DANG that was a doozy." Matt said, still trying to uncross his eyes. Fox pulled him up off the floor and dusted him off until matt gently shoved him aside, and sat down at the next computer.

"Last time I dust the screen off." He muttered before turning the next computer on. He waited a few seconds for it to boot up, then when it finished it instantly started opening up millions of windows full of junk.

"Infected with a virus." Matt commented to the spectators before blowing the computer clean off the table with his metallic arm cannon. Matt tried a few more computers, some of which also blew up, just didn't work at all, or didn't work properly.

Matt was on his twelfth computer when he finally hit the jackpot.

After booting the computer up, Matt quickly jumped out of the seat and backed up, waiting for the computer to explode.

It didn't.

He waited a full five minutes before finally being urged to continue his work by Luigi's boot. He painfully scooted back into the metal chair and started looking around the computer for an opening to hack into, and he found just that when he started exploring the main database.

"Ok, this set of computers here" Matt waved his hand across the tent. "Is just a branch of the main GUN database. MAN, this is a stupid setup." He commented.

He sat there for another minute, looking for information in the camp's databanks, and after his search proved unfruitful he hacked into GUN's main database.

"If these guys are smart..." Matt said with a hint of doubt. "...Then I have approximately two minutes before I get shut out."

As the team watched, Matt's fingers flew across the keyboard as he tossed firewalls aside like trash, bowling through the database like a bulldozer. As time started to stretch thin, he started having difficulty keeping his hold.

"If I don't find something soon." Matt said, tense, "This'll just have been a waste of time."

"Look in their schedule!" Paul said suddenly.

"Yeah! Look in their schedule!" Fox said. "There might be something there."

"Okie dokie." Matt said. He was perspiring because of the pressure that was put on him...and maybe because it was a hot, sultry day anyways.

He found a way back to the main navigation page of GUN's database, then he surfed it to their schedules section, where they usually put in information regarding their big plans.

He had just clicked the schedules thingy when a giant window flashed up on the screen.

Matt took a few seconds of intense effort to shove aside the window, and froze.

Everybody else leaned in to look at the screen, and gasped.

"But...But that's in just a week!" Yoshi stuttered.

Everybody stood silent for a moment, then Matt stood up.

"We didn't find anything concerning Mario or Peach, so I'm guessing they're safe." Matt sighed. "...But this puts some of our other friends in a load of trouble."

"Poyo poyo POY!" Kirby shouted frantically.

"I didn't quite catch what it was saying before the screen went black." Link said. "Could ya tell me?"

"Well, in just a week, they're going to execute Eliwood, Lyndis, Ephraim, and Erika." Paul said. "From what Master Hand told us, about a few days before the attack, they said they quit, and wanted to return home!"

"Eliwood and Lyndis did." Fox said. "Ephraim and Erika were with us before the attack, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Paul said. "Oops. It gets kinda hard to remember everybody when life is so crazy!"

Everybody teamed up and knocked Paul to the ground for his moment of supreme DUH.

"Anyways." Link said. "We need a plan if we're going to rescue them!"

"I'M COMING TO SAVE YOOOOUUUUU, DADDYYYYYYYYYYYY!!" Roy screamed as he tore out of the tent fast enough to set the ground on fire.

"Believe me, I have one." Matt smiled smugly.

Bowser looked at the computer Matt was using a few moments ago, and glared at it with deepest loathing and anger. He wound up his fist, and punched his way through the monitor, and only pulled his fist out after it had ruptured through the back.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Sorry about the short chapter. Usually, I can't seem to make these kinds of chapters long.**

**Look at the bright side: At least it's not ridiculously long so you're sitting here for an hour or two trying to read it.**

**Ok...anyways, sorry about the wait. I'll update again soon, so keep your peepers open for another chapter soon!**

**Let me know what you guys think! And yay! This is the beginning of another Arc!**

**DISCOVERY!**

**How creative...Well, see you guys next time!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**P.S.( Do you guys really think I'll leave Roy crazy for the rest of my series? Of course not! He'll regain his sanity someday, but until then...i'll just have some fun with him.)**


	43. Welcome to Lycia!

**Here we go again, people! It's another rescue mission.**

**Well, I'm short on words, so I'll not bother you with lots of random wind! Let's-a go!**

**-Chapter XXXXIII-**

**-Welcome to Pherae!-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Roughly four days later...

--

"I still don't understand how this plan is going to work." Fox snarled. He, Yoshi, Kirby, Bowser, and Pichu were in a cage, and Matt, Ness, Luigi, and Dr. Mario were dressed in medieval clothes. Paul didn't change since his clothing was close enough, anyways.

"I agree with Fuzzbutt over here." Bowser menaced from the cage. "What good is it going to do putting us in a cage? And a cramped one at that!"

"We went over this over and over already." Matt sighed from the cabby's bench.

The team was riding along in an old horse driven wagon that they bought from a farmer. The cage sat in the back where the livestock or produce usually sat, and everybody else walked alongside the wagon.

"You did agree to this plan at first." Matt continued as he steered the wagon down the dirt road.

"I didn't think this included us being treated like...like animals!" Bowser finally huffed.

"Are you using that whipped cream like I told you to?" Matt inquired with a none-too-kind tone.

"Of course not! Kirby ate it all already!"

"Sowwe!" Kirby mumbled. "BURP!"

"Kirby!" Link sighed. His outfit was also unchanged. "...Here's the last can. Don't eat it, k?"

"Poyo!" Kirby said, catching the can in his stubby arms after Link tossed it.

"So...We're supposed to act like we have rabies?" Yoshi wondered.

"Basically." Dr. Mario affirmed.

"I still can't believe I'm doing this." Fox said. "Good thing Falco's not here. He'd never let me live this down."

"Just spray up, already." Matt said. "And growl and screech and hiss at everybody that looks at you."

Soon the sounds of whipped cream being sprayed sounded behind him, and the genius took a moment to set down the reins and rub the stump of his left shoulder. He had removed the metal arm and wrapped his torso up to pose as a one-armed wounded swordsman.

"Shut up, Kirby! Even though I hate this the plan has to work! GIVE ME THE WHIPPED CREAM!"

"POYOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

In the back of the wagon, things quickly went crazy as Bowser started chewing on Kirby after the star warrior bit his nose. Yoshi grabbed Bowser's leg with his tongue and Fox started punching Bowser's face. The Koopa King then stomped on Yoshi's tongue and rammed Fox up against the bars while Pichu cowered in the corner.

"What ya gonna do with them beasts?" A farmer asked as he walked past the wagon. "In mah personal 'pinion, them rabid beasts oughta be killed."

"Don't worry." Matt said. "I'm taking them to GUN...I think they're smashers or something. Wanted criminals. Can you tell me where I can find the nearest outpost?"

"Oh...Them weird soldiers with the shining...things...Yah, I don't know exactly, yeh see, but someone in town might be able to tell ya."

"Thank you." Matt said. After the farmer vanished from sight, Matt turned and faced his caged companions. There was whipped cream everywhere, and everybody was leaning against the bars, nursing their bruises. "You guys did great!"

They just glared daggers at him.

_This is going to be a long trip..._ Matt thought despairingly.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few hours later the team arrived in a little hamlet a little ways off the beaten track, but they were now officially in the territory of Pherae, Roy's homeland.

...Of course, to our absent-minded pyromaniac swordsman, this only meant that Daddy was close...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"When can I see daddy?" Roy whispered, his face alight with childish glee.

"Soon." Dr. Mario replied impassively.

"So far, this is actually working." Link said in a tone of slight amazement. "I thought something stupid would happen, 'cause, well, you know, something stupid usually ruins the best of plans!"

"Ok, just to make sure I remember everything..." Paul said, "...First we find out where GUN is, then we rescue Eliwood and Lyn, then we get their help and run GUN from Lycia. After that, we're supposed to rescue Ephraim and Erika and escape?"

"That's the plan, all of it." Matt affirmed. "Our caged pals are just a ruse."

"I feel sorry for them." Ness sighed. He was dressed in a simple tunic and shorts, with boots on his feet. His hat was stashed away elsewhere, since there were no hats like that in all of Elibe. Link had also removed his hat for the sake of making it harder to recognize him.

Roars could be heard in the background.

"By the sound of things, Bowser's taking his anger out on the civilians." Link commented.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Outside the pub, Bowser roared and sprayed the townspeople with spittle. He was hopping mad...and dodging pitchforks.

"Yah! Get 'im!" One boy yelled.

"RAWR!" Bowser roared, spewing fire at the closest poker.

"OW!"

Bowser continued spewing fire, until he forced everybody away from the wagon.

"...Whatta we do?" One man asked. "That beast'll eat people if he gets loose!"

"...Say...doesn't he look like somebody familiar?"

"Now that you mention it, I think I saw him somewhere..." Somebody said.

"Uh, on a poster, maybe?" Another asked.

"I know!" A woman shouted. "That's Bowser!"

"Bowser who?"

"Those GUN folks want him! He must be bad or something!"

"He's a wanted criminal! CRIKEY! GET HIM!"

"No! Get GUN! They're the ones that want him! Let THEM deal with him!"

"Yeah!"

"YEAH!"

"Oh bugger." Bowser moaned. "Plan B!"

"Attack?" Yoshi asked.

"ATTACK!?" Fox yelped in shock.

"ATTACK!!" Bowser bellowed, ripping the door clean off the cage and falling upon the villagers.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Plan B?" Ness asked.

"Plan B." Luigi agreed.

"You're not going anywhere!" A man shouted from somewhere else in the building. A couple of men stood up and drew their swords, and charged the smashers.

"Local Vigilantes." Link figured. "Don't make us hurt you!"

"You're the bad guys!" another guy shouted. "We can't trust you!"

"Incredibly easy to sway, unbelievably gullible, and impossibly stubborn." Matt said. "Ike's view of ordinary townspeople is spot-on."

"Makes me wonder where he is, and how he's doing." Paul said as he blocked a blow from a vigilante.

"Well, anyhow, our plan's blown." Dr. Mario said. "So much for sneaking up on the government and teaching them a lesson!"

"Hey!" Somebody shouted suddenly. "So THAT'S where Prince Roy went! He's been kidnapped! GIVE HIM BACK!"

"Hello, everybody!" Roy shouted. "WHEEEEEEEEE!!"

"Catch him!"

Roy pounced from the top of the table he was standing on, and clung to the chandelier like a cat. The light fixture swung back and forth, with Roy sticking to it and cackling with mad laughter. The Vigilantes were below him when the chain snapped, and they got trapped underneath the heavy ironwork.

"YAY! THAT WAS FUN!" Roy yelled. "AGAIN! AGAIN!"

"Another time, another place." Dr. Mario said, seizing his friend by the hand and leading him from the building at a run.

Outside, the mob was already out of control. People could be seen running away, and a whole crowd of them seemed to be heading somewhere important.

"They're off to warn GUN!" Fox shouted as he kicked a few people away. "We need to split!"

"Ok, cover your eyes!" Link yelled. He pulled out his whole bag of Deku nuts, and threw them at the ground. There was a sound like firecrackers, and a series of intense flashes of light blasted the nearby area.

"MY EYES!" One of the villagers shouted in agony.

The smashers then hot-footed it from the village as fast as they could, and disappeared into the nearby woods without a trace.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"...You had to say that, didn't you, Link?" Fox asked around the campfire that night.

"It wasn't going to work anyways." Matt said. "We're just too...conspicuous."

"POYO!"

"It's not like you can help being a big, fat, and pink marshmallow." Bowser laughed cruelly.

"Boiyoh!"

"Oh, SHUT UP!" Link said. "...So, we still head for Roy's castle, right?"

"Yes." Matt said. "We can't stop. Now that they know we're here, we have to hurry because they might...bump the executions to a sooner date..."

"Funny thing, this whole situation." Fox said. "They're the world government, but as far as I can see, they're not doing the job the people elected them for. They're nothing but tyrants."

"And there's all of this really fishy stuff going on." Paul added. "We just don't know enough yet!"

"..." Bowser just stared at the fire that was in the middle of the team's circle.

"...Not to sound unkind or anything, but I think Roy would be of more assistance...IF he had his mind back." Dr. Mario said. "It's a shame to see such a bright guy act like a lunatic."

"I hope we find Mario and Peach soon." Luigi said. "..."

"Whatever happens..." Bowser started saying, "Never, ever let me stop fighting with you. I'll die to make this world a better place."

"I would too." Yoshi agreed.

"Let's turn in for the night, everybody." Link muttered. "We're going to have heck tomorrow, and we may as well be prepared."

With that, the team was left to find the most comfortable piece of ground they could find.

Link found a nice spot between the roots of a nearby tree, which he nestled himself into. He sat up against it like it was a chair, and leaned back. The sky was dark navy blue, and the moon hung way above in the celestial curtain of space. He couldn't help but wonder how Zelda was doing before sleep wrapped his consciousness in darkness...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Down an endless hole. Link felt himself falling faster and faster, and small yellow glows appeared far off in the darkness. They loomed closer and closer as Link fell, and when they got closer, he could tell they were eyes.

He was suddenly surrounded by the eyes, and he could feel pressure crushing him. He screamed, and hands grabbed him in the darkness and pulled him down further. Link's body froze, and he could feel the cold eating its way into his body. He screamed again as the freezing fire consumed him-

Link dreamed that he was standing in the middle of black nothingness.

He felt solid ground beneath his feet, but it was just black, and everything else was black as well, making it impossible to distinguish ground from sky, which felt really odd...

The hylian walked around inside his dream, quickly losing sense of direction, sense of everything. It was just blackness. It suffocated his senses, making him wonder if he was even sensing anything at all.

Then he saw his friends standing around him, like statues.

Link took a tentative step forward, and found that he could indeed move. He crept closer to Ness, who was the closest to himself. As he got closer, Ness faded out of sight like a ghost, and Link picked up the pace. He was at full speed by the time he reached Ness, and just as Link reached him, his outstretched hand whipped the air where Ness was standing...

He was gone.

Link looked around and noticed everybody else fading as well, then looked past them and saw the rest of the Super Smash Brothers, and immense and formidable army of elite warriors. Even as Link looked on, the crowd thinned out, stretching way out of his view, out into the endless expanse...

Link ran towards them, but everybody that got close to him vanished before he could touch them. When he reached the common folk, when he thought they vanished, he seemingly ran right into an invisible wall and fell on hic back...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When he awoke, the sky was already bright with the morning sun, and a few lazy little white clouds hovered about in the heavens. Link shook himself, and looked around warily. He felt really lonely, and insecure. He hugged himself and backed into the roots to warm himself up, and it was a few minutes before Link felt that he was soothed enough to move. He got up and stretched, but no matter what he did...unknown fears seemed to eat at his heart. He didn't know what to think...so he decided that it was time to get everybody else up. He walked to his closest companion, who happened to be Yoshi.

"It's morning already?" Yoshi asked when Link nudged him with his foot.

"Yep. Time to get going already." Link said.

"Man...It feels like I've only been asleep for five minutes." Paul yawned.

"Better wake up fast." Link advised. "We have a ways to go, and it's a miracle GUN hasn't found us already.

"EEP!" Matt squeaked. "Don't say anything like that! You'll get us jinxed again!"

"Man, you're superstitious." Link chuckled nervously.

"THEY'RE OVER HERE!" Somebody shouted.

"SEE!?" Matt moaned.

"They heard us, that's all. Coincidence." Bowser said, getting up off the ground and shaking earth from his body. "Let's go!"

"Seriously, why does everybody blame this stuff on me?" Link wondered aloud as his companions ran past him into the thicket.

"Come ON!" Dr. Mario yelled, grabbing Link by the hand and dragging him in after the others.

Just as the bushes stopped moving, GUN soldiers flooded into the tiny area, and looked around.

"...Hey, where'd they go?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

They were a lot deeper in the woods now, deep enough for the light to have dimmed due to larger and thicker tree canopies. The ground was rougher too, and covered in grass, thickets, and worst...

"Nettles!" Fox yelped as he stepped on a stray creeper. He hopped on one foot and yanked a giant spike out of his boot, and raised it up to his face in shock. "...DANG...these spikes are huge! Just what kind of country is this anyways!?"

"Looks like you'll be needing a ride." Bowser said to Pichu. "Hop on!"

"PI!" Pichu did as she was told, and scampered up Bowser's giant shell, and sat at the top just behind his head. Bowser took the lead and trampled the plants down, creating a pathway for the others to follow on.

"Man, I love being big and scaly sometimes." Bowser chuckled as he plowed through the underbrush. Pichu tittered happily from her perch on Bowser's back.

"Any idea if we're headed in the right direction?" Fox asked.

"Heck if any of us know. I doubt anybody's been this way before." Ness said.

"Yesh." Roy squeaked, sticking his tongue out and looking idiotic.

FLASH!

Everybody looked at Dr. Mario as he withdrew his camera.

"...Hey, SOMEBODY has to show the guy how stupid he looks." He protested. "Whe-IF he ever gets his mind back, this is the first thing I'm showing him." He held up the picture to emphasize his point.

"..Right." Link replied, his eye twitching crazily. "Anyways, by the looks of things...the sun's to our left, and it hasn't risen far yet. It's...I'd say roughly eleven 'o clock?

"Hmm, yeah, that's about right." Matt said, looking at a clock on his metal arm.

"Hey!" Everybody but Matt shouted. "When did you get your metal arm back?!"

"Uh, teleporter?" Matt answered, as if he thought it the most obvious thing in the world. "Look, I had invent something to keep it handy. Who knows when something will happen to it? I need to be able to retrieve it, instantly."

"...I SAID...LET'S GO ALREADY!" Link screeched.

"There they are!"

Luigi tackled Link and knocked him into some deep bushes, and slapped a hand over his mouth. Everybody else frantically dashed about to find a place to hide.

Five seconds later, GUN troops dashed into sight, and looked around.

"I could have sworn, they were just here!" One soldier complained.

"Me too!" Another guy said. "It's like we're trying to chase ghosts or something! Sheesh!"

Nearby, a small mound of dirt twitched.

"...Hmm, may as well have a good smoke or something while the boss isn't looking..."

"That's not a bad idea! Got a spare cigarette on ya I could borrow?"

"Ya got a lighter?"

"Duh."

"Then yeah, help yourself."

The dirt mound twitched again, and a tiny bit of dirt slipped off...

ACHOO!

SHHHKTTT!

Bowser's sneeze was muffled by the ripping sound of Velcro as one of the soldiers opened his satchel, and pulled out a box of cigarettes. The other soldier procured a lighter while another soldier stood nearby, looking nervous.

"Seriously, guys, we should go back and report, or keep looking." He muttered nervously.

"What the boss doesn't know won't hurt him." The soldier with the Velcro bag said in an attempt to justify his laziness.

The mound of dirt behind the smoking soldiers twitched again, revealing a tiny bit of Bowser's eye. It was only a small hole, though.

"Here, light this for me." The soldier with the bag said, holding out a cigar.

"Hey! You gave me a cigarette when you had a few of those?!" The soldier with the lighter complained.

"You didn't ask." The soldier said.

"...Fine. Gimme a sec..." The soldier with the lighter said. He turned around and started speaking to the nervous soldier, and the guy with the bag sighed and held the cigar out while his face was pointed towards the other direction, where his bag was. He dug around in his bag with his back turned, and Bowser sneezed again. A bright crimson lick of flame erupted from the mound of dirt, and lit the cigar.

"Hey!" The nervous soldier shouted. "There's the Koopa king!"

The air shimmered next to the soldier, then there was a loud THWACK! noise as something semi-invisible crashed into his head. He was knocked unconscious instantly.

Bowser leapt up from the ground in a cascade of dirt, and pounced on the soldier with the cigar. The remaining soldier pulled out his gun and prepared to shoot Bowser full of holes, but Link fell out of the trees, caught the man by the shoulders, and pulled him straight to the ground. The man fired a load of rounds into the trees above, and was knocked out by Link, who smashed his shield into his head.

Bowser grabbed the three soldiers and tossed them into the bushes where Matt and Luigi were, and the two popped out.

"That didn't work so well." Bowser said as he attempted to blow the rest of the dirt out of his nose.

"Yeah, it might have worked if we had enough time to prepare." Paul said, appearing out of thin air. "I'm still impressed you managed to bury yourself so quickly!"

"And you being able to vanish!" He replied. "I didn't know you were capable of stuff like that."

"I used a simple Blink spell." Paul said. "I just increased the strength of it."

"...Uh, what the heck does Blink do?" Bowser asked, completely clueless.

"The spell creates a blur around your body, making it a whole lot harder to hit you." Paul said. "I pretty much invented this version of it, though, so you'd be hard pressed to find anybody else with it."

"I see...I think."

"Yeah, let's go before we get swamped by more soldiers!" Link urged.

"Wait!" Luigi suddenly said. "How'd you jump outta the trees when I grabbed you!?"

"I swapped places with Matt using Farore's Wind." Link said.

"Hey, I heard gunshots this way!" Some random GUN soldier yelled.

"..." Everybody stood still for a moment, stewing angrily for a few seconds.

"...Anybody up for kicking GUN butt?" Yoshi asked.

"Am I ever!" Luigi replied, pulling out his golden hammer, the Thor Hammer.

"POYO!" Kirby yelled to attract the soldier's attention.

"What the heck was that?"

"Uh, I think that's Kirby...?"

"Then we're on the right track!"

The smashers charged forwards, and shout into the sight of the soldiers so fast they were stunned. Everybody ran right into them at full speed.

They didn't stand a chance.

The soldiers were flattened in the dirt before a second had clicked by. Link put on more speed and leaned into the wind, and his companions followed suit. They blasted right into the thick of the woods.

More soldiers leapt out to stop them, but the Smashers would not be denied, and the idiots that got in their way met the same fate as their pals. They kept going, and once the forest started thinning out they reached a cliff. They stopped a moment to look at the rest of the forest way below, and in the distance, they saw a castle and a town around it. A quick look around told them the cliff wound down like a path, so they shot to the left and followed the ridge as it slowly brought them closer to the forest below.

"GOTCHA!"

Soldiers pounced from the trees to their left, and they were taken by surprise. Most everybody was pulled down to the dirt by a soldier or two, but Link warped a few feet away with Farore's Wind, and Fox nimbly stepped aside.

Link ran at the two men that jumped at him and missed, and jumped on their backs to knock the wind out of them. After jumping off them, he threw his boomerang over his shoulder and knocked both of them out. He bowled over the soldiers that had Yoshi surrounded, then whirled around and kicked a guy off Bowser's back. Bowser roared and threw all the guys off, a few of which toppled over the edge of the cliff with a scream.

Fox, the second he dodged the first assault, flipped backwards and dashed right into the closest soldier with his Fox Illusion and knocked him away with a powerful swing of his staff. The leftover soldier that was attacking him then got knocked to his knees when Fox used his Quake spell. As soon as he was able, he pulled his staff from the ground and knocked the soldier out with a roundhouse kick, then shot a stream of fire at the soldier wrangling Pichu and Kirby. He screamed and dropped the two small smashers, and accidentally fell over the cliff after his friends.

With the help of his mecha arm, Matt shook off the two men pinning him down, rolled over, and kicked another soldier in the stomach with a double kick as he ran towards Matt. He also went flying over the edge of the cliff. The two soldiers next to Matt stood back up, and charged at the same time. The genius jumped right up into the air and the two soldiers collided, then he landed on top of their heads and kicked off them. He flipped high into the air and fired a wind grenade that blew them over the side, then landed next to Luigi and a few more soldiers. Luigi stunned the guy holding his right hand by discharging a large amount of electricity, then used his free hand to karate chop the other solider holding his left arm. Then, there was a loud explosion next to them as Paul released his Self-Destruct attack again, successfully blowing off all the guys that were restraining him.

Roy threw off his captors with the kind of strength only insane people have, then grabbed the soldier that had Dr. Mario in a half nelson and knocked him out with the flat of his blade. Ness managed to blind his captor with PK Flash, then he whacked him in the crotch with his bat and tossed him over the edge of the cliff with Telekinesis.

"Since when did you start using magic so much?" Ness asked shortly.

"I decided I'd be able to fight better if I used more magic." Link explained. "If I use it more, I'll exercise it and be able to use it more powerfully and more without exhausting my supply. Kinda like exercising."

"Oh."

"I can't believe this!" a GUN soldier shouted as he jumped out of the trees were the rest of them came from. He had on a shiny badge, a slightly better looking uniform, and a BIG bazooka. "I'm a general, so I should be powerful enough to take you morons on by myself!"

"Dream big, little man!" Bowser yelled.

"PK FIRE!"

"DIN'S FIRE!"

"AEROGA!"

"PICHU!!"

"POYO!!"

"RAWR!!"

"THUNDERHAND!"

"SUPERNOVA EGG!!"

"QUAKE!"

"FIRE GRENADE!"

"FLARE BLADE!"

"MEGA VITAMIN!"

All of the attacks collided (Bowser had used fire breath) and the resulting explosion of elements blew the general up into the air, OHKO'd. He landed on the ground with an earthy thump, and the smashers just stared at his pitiful KO'd body before resuming their mad dash to Pherae's central city/town. Thankfully, no more soldiers pursued them, and they reached the town within a few minutes.

It was an ordinary, quaint little medieval town, ordinary in appearance.

Upon walking into town, the smashers drew stares from the common folk, and then one lady ran up to them.

"My goodness!" She exclaimed. "It's Lord Roy! He's back!"

"Yay!" Roy said. "He's back!"

"And the smashers too!" She said. The second she said it, the rest of the party tensed up and Roy was shoved to the middle, mostly just to hide the fact he's insane. "...We've been with you all since the beginning. You can relax here." The lady said, sensing their wariness.

"...Is that true?" Matt asked apprehensively. "We've had as much trouble we can stand for the past two days, and I'd REALLY like to chill..."

"You've come to the right place." A man said, walking up to them. "We've been waiting for you to come! GUN's done nothing but treat us like dirt since they came."

"That's nothing new." Matt grimaced.

"Hold on a sec, you're wounded." Link said, pointing at the man's arm and shoulder. It was wrapped up in bandages.

"No thanks to GUN." The man answered bitterly. "They did this to me when I protested against Lord Eliwood's capture."

"We're here to rescue him." Link answered. "Isn't he being held up in his castle?"

"Yes..."

"WE'RE CLOSE!" The smashers yelled triumphantly.

"...Until a few days ago." The man finished.

"Huh...?" Ness said, "...Where'd he get moved to!?"

"They took him and Lady Lyndis of Caelin over to Ostia, where they're also holding Lady Lilina hostage. It's a sad day..."

"...Uh oh." Yoshi said.

"Poyo." Kirby fussed.

"Which direction is Ostia from here?" Fox asked.

"From here, it's northwest a good couple of scores of miles." The man replied.

"You know what this reminds me of, everybody?" Luigi asked.

"What?" Bowser replied.

"A long time ago, when Mario was trying to rescue Peach from you, no offense, "Luigi said, "The koopa he beat there said, 'Peach is being held in another castle!'"

"AWWWW!!" Everybody moaned, slumping to the ground in exhaustion and annoyance.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**I don't believe I phrased that properly, 'cause I never really played the game, and can't remember how it was phrased when I first saw it on the internet somewhere.**

**I'm referring to one of the first Mario games, back from the good old days. That's one of the funniest plot twists I've ever seen, and I had to make Luigi say that at the end.**

**Anyways...I was having trouble thinking of what to do with this chapter, and I sorta had a moment of doubt whether this chapter would turn out ok. I guess it did, because after awhile, around the middle of it, I started having fun typing it. I'm guessing that means I did a good job, but enough of my ranting.**

**Now the smashers have to travel across the greater part of the country of Lycia, and rescue their friends from Ostia! And they only have about a day, too.**

**Things just got really sucky, eh? You'll just have to wait till next time to see what happens next! (Should be soon, considering I have no life, and actually had fun typing this chapter, which should make a difference.)**

**I hope ya liked it! I sure did.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**(Yay! Another sorta long chapter!)**


	44. Where's My Daddy?

Nothing much to say

**Nothing much to say...'cept that reviews are downhill...Guess a bunch of people are just on vacation...or just not reviewing...or something...**

**Sigh.**

**(Shoulda said this way before, a few chapters ago. Thank you for the reviews you HAVE given me! I really appreciate them.) They just give me enough of that writer's fuel to keep going, and fast sometimes too.**

**My brother just pressed me with this question recently. He asked me if I was planning on having the other newcomers from Brawl in this story (More specifically, Diddy Kong, Olimar, R.O.B, Pokemon Trainer, Lucario, Toon Link, and Lucas)**

**Yeah, they're gonna be in all right. Whenever they update the roster, I'm gonna add in the new guys. One thing I must say, though, and I'm probably gonna get shot for it. The Pokemon Trainer will be Ash from the...I guess it is the anime or something. That way he actually has a specific identity. (Even though the PKMN Trainer is just a generic one, he rocks!)**

**So...Yeah. Let me know what ya think if you feel like reviewing.**

**-Chapter XXXXIV-**

**-Where's my Daddy!?-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"We messed up!" Luigi shouted in shock, holding his face like it was going to fall off.

"What do we do?!" Ness panicked.

"Where's my daddy!?" Roy demanded, looking dour for the first time in days.

Matt quickly pulled out a phone-like device and activated it. When it was up by his mouth, he yelled, "CRAZY HAND! WE MIFFED IT! ELIWOOD AND LYNDIS ARE IN OSTIA, AND WE'RE IN PHERAAAAAAAAEEEE! PICK US UP AND TAKE US OVER THERE NOWWWWWW!!"

"ZOWIES!" Crazy Hand yelled back. "I can hear fine, yeh doofus! I'm comin', I'm comin'!!"

"I can't believe GUN moved our friends to Ostia THREE days ago!" Dr. Mario said. "We messed up bad...And by the timing of thing's they'll be killed this afternoon!"

"That's why we're gonna do this quick." Link said calmly. "We'll hit them so hard we'll knock GUN cross-eyed."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Yoshi asked curiously.

"We haven't been using the full extent of our powers." Link said. "Our legendary weapons could use some exercise."

"Some of us haven't." Bowser corrected. "A few of us have been usin' them since this whole stupid war started in the first place!"

"He heh..." Link laughed sheepishly. "Then it's time for me to pull out MY stuff, then!"

"I'll use my stuff, and Mario's, too!" Luigi said.

"Time to turn my sword into its Excalibur form, then." Paul said.

"Pichu!" Pichu squealed.

Bowser just rubbed his tummy, and belched out white flames.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" Roy yelled, sounding uncannily like Crazy Hand. His sword burst into furious flames, and once again became the Unsealed Sword.

"...Poyo." Kirby calmly took out his star rod, and tapped it a few times on his stubby arm until it started sparkling again. Matt merely unsheathed his Emerald Blade, and Fox took a few seconds to shine his staff on his shirt.

"Since we're not hiding anymore, feel free to change clothes on the ship." Matt said. "I'm going to. I never did like this rough clothing anyways..."

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'mmmmmmmmmmmmmm...HERE!" Crazy shouted from the sky. The smashers looked up to see the Gummi ship hovering above them, then Crazy dropped the ship.

Everybody ran out of the way, screaming. The Gummi ship smashed into the ground with a dull thud, and the shockwave knocked everybody over on their face.

"Quit laying around, and get in!" Crazy said, speaking like he was some airline attendant. "All aboard for Ostia!"

Kirby was the first to scramble into the ship, followed by Yoshi and Bowser. In their hurry, the rest of the team got jammed in the doorway as they tried getting in.

"Activating Door Unjammer!" Crazy called out. A hatch opened on the side of the ship, and a giant generic boot on a mechanical arm appeared. It swung around once, and then slammed into the heroes stuck in the doorway.

Yoshi and Kirby were walking down one of the narrow hallways inside the ship when there was a giant whoosh noise, and they turned to see everybody flying past them at top speed. They slammed into the wall in front of the door, and lay there dazed as the door shut and sealed up.

Ness blubbered and shook his head back and forth to get his sense back, then stood up. "Hey, are we there already?"

"No, we just got on the ship." Yoshi said.

"...Oh. DANG! That boot hit us hard!" Ness complained, rubbing his big head.

"...Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...Maaaaaaaaan." Matt moaned from the floor. "At least...we're in the ship." He got up, and held his head. He waited for his eyes to stop rolling before he started moving anymore. "I think I might have a plan that will work this time."

"It better!" Dr. Mario barked from the floor.

"Wheeeeeeeeeee..." Roy said from the floor. His butt was up against the wall, and his legs were way up in the air. He seemed to have lost touch with reality, and unknown words drifted across his lips as his eyes spun around like wheels.

"Get up." Dr. Mario said. He pulled the swordsman up off the ground, and slapped his face a few times until Roy could see normally.

"Just meet me in the cockpit!" Matt groaned. Everybody else was just starting to get their act back together.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"We're here!" Crazy shouted from the windshield/screen.

"OW!" Fox yelped, yanking off his headphones. "We can hear you fine, idiot!"

"That's not nice..." Crazy sighed.

"Ok, everybody knows what to do as their part of the plan?" Matt asked.

"Affirmative." Luigi replied.

"Oh, sure." Paul snarled. "I still can't believe I offered to be the decoy!"

"Poyo?" Kirby asked.

"Nooooooooooooooooooo...Decoys are not for eating." Bowser said.

"Poyo!"

"What!?" Matt asked. "You want to be a decoy too? I thought you wanted to be a part of the strike force!"

"Po HOYO!" Kirby said.

"Let the puffball do it." Bowser suggested. "It's his hide, after all."

"That's not nice!" Crazy said.

"Fine..." Matt said. "Any OTHER last minute decisions I need to know about?" He waited a full minute for a response, and got nothing but cricket chirps. "Ok, then, let's go!"

Crazy opened the outer hatch, and Kirby and Paul scrambled to the lower area of the ship. When they reached the door, it opened up out into the middle of the sky.

They were way above Castle Ostia.

"So, ya sure you want to do this?" Paul asked as he looked at his companion.

"Poyo!" Kirby affirmed.

"Right, then." Paul said. He stepped out to the middle of the door, which stuck out from the ship like a plank. He looked down, gulped, then looked back at Kirby.

"Ya know, it would be a whole lot more comforting if you could speak normally." Paul said. "...Of all the last wishes, it had to be something stupid. Here goes!"

He stepped back into the doorway, then ran out to the end of the 'plank' and jumped.

Kirby waited a few seconds, and then looked at his star rod, then looked back at the plank. He then waved the wand over his body once, and jumped off.

"Geronimo!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Ok, grab your cloaking devices." Matt said. "While GUN's distracted with our two brave and noble team members, we're going to sneak in and break our pals out."

"Just as a refresher, there's two teams, right?" Link asked. "And, we'll be communicating with these walkie-talkies?" 

"Yeah, but for the sake of secrecy, we'll be texting each other." Matt explained. "And no, nobody's going to see the walkie-talkies. If we touch anything while the cloaking device is activated, it'll vanish too. That's how we'll hide Eliwood, Lyn, and Lilina when we break them out."

"...Right." Ness said. "Well, are we ready? I am."

"Me too." Bowser said. "Let's get this show on the road!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Paul and Kirby landed safely on the ground.

Castle Ostia loomed over their heads. It looked more like a fortress than a castle, and an impregnable one at that. At least, for normal people with metal weapons.

GUN, and the Smashers were NOT normal, of course.

There was a GUN camp located on the west side of the fortress city, and it expanded nearly as much as the city did. There was a huge camp of soldiers there...and distracting them, let alone angering them, would be suicide.

"Any last words, Kirby?" Paul asked. "I already said mine."

"Naw, I don't think we'll die so easily." Kirby replied.

Paul's eyes shot wide open, then he relaxed and cracked a grin. "Finally, you start talking! It's a relief not having to interpret everything you say."

"I only did it because you wanted me to." Kirby said. "Also, it makes it easier on the readers!"

"...Uh, who?" Paul asked confusedly.

"Ooops!" Kirby said, smacking his stubby arms over his mouth. "Uh, I really dunno.."

"I sure don't know.." Paul said, looking at Kirby with an odd expression. "Let's just do our job. I'm sure the others have started by now, and if they have, we need to too!"

"Aye aye!" Kirby said.

The two ran out from their cover, and strolled towards the camp.

"I know I have one thing down, at least." Paul said. "...I know how to be annoying!"

"Me too." Kirby replied. "Me too."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMPTHUMPTHUMP THUMP!

Dust flew up in little clouds and settled down...Then little footprints appeared in the dirt.

"Shh!" Somebody hissed. "Now, just...holy crap, I didn't think of this." Matt moaned.

"Genius..." Link and Ness scoffed at the same time.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"No! You idiot! You can't do that in this game!" A soldier yelled. He angrily threw down his Gamecube controller, and sat back down in his seat, breathing heavily.

"Why not?" The other soldier complained.

"Why not? WHY NOT!?" Soldier A yelled. "Hacking isn't fair! Fight like a man!"

"No, I prefer fighting with unlimited aerial jumps, thank you." Soldier B said.

"I don't even know why I bought this Action Replay, anyways." Soldier A moaned.

"It's fun playing SSBM using the Debug menu, that's why!" Soldier B said.

"...Huh?" Soldier A asked suddenly. He felt a chill run down his spine. Somebody was behind him...He whipped around, and saw an oddly dressed young man with a black suit and green vest, and a pink puffball strolling right in front of their tent.

He jumped up and ran outside to see the two pass by, and noticed that many of his comrades in the nearby tents were doing the same.

"Hey...is that...?" Soldier B asked from behind him.

"I can't believe my eyes..." Soldier A said. He bolted back into the tent and pulled out a wanted poster, took a REEEEEAL good look at it, and then ran back outside.

"It's them!" he shouted. "It's the smashers!"

"Uh oh!" Kirby said.

"Busted!" Paul shouted in a mock-horrified voice.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I still can't believe this!" Link hissed quietly. "Matt, I just don't get you sometimes..."

"Sorry if I never thought about the fact we can't see each other!" Matt hissed back. He was at the front of a chain of people...INVISIBLE people, to be more specific. Everybody grabbed onto the shirt of the person in front of them, which was not accomplished without the greatest degree of difficulty. In Pichu's case, she rode on Bowser's back.

"He he, I'm a ghoooooooooost..." Roy moaned.

"Would you cut that out!?" Dr. Mario whispered.

"He he, I'm sowwe...Hey, I wanna see daddy!"

"Shh...We'll see him soon, I promise." Yoshi said.

"Okie dokie!"

They quietly shuffled towards the main gate of the city, which happened to be open. They walked in, still linked as a chain of people.

The town itself was quiet. Everybody that lived there seemed to be inside their houses, and even though there were a few people walking the streets, few of them stayed there for long. The team sneaked their way to the front of the castle, which took a few minutes, and when they reached the gates, they sneaked past the two guards standing there.

"...Hey, I think I just felt a breeze." One of the soldiers said, after the smashers passed.

"I didn't. The air's been still all day." The other replied.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

"What the hey was that!?" The first soldier shouted in shock.

"That must be the tanks!" Soldier B said. "Somebody's attacking!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" Paul screamed, pretending to be scared as he ran around with his arms in the air.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" Kirby screamed right after him.

They both ran to the side just as a cannon shell hit the ground and exploded.

"EEEEEEEK!" They then bolted into the forest, and at least five tanks chased them in.

It was quiet back at the camp. A few soldiers stood about, and looked around in shock. It took only a few seconds for the tanks to tear a path of devastation down the middle of the camp.

The soldiers in the tank had tried shooting the two smashers, who just ran around screaming like idiots. They didn't even fight back! Now, the camp was starting to catch fire, and the tanks chased them into the forest...

--

"Incoming!" Paul shouted. He leapt high into the air, and Kirby sprang up right after him. The ground beneath them exploded and sent dirt and plants flying everywhere, and the two shielded their faces while still flying. "I should have done this earlier." Paul said. "Protect!"

A bubble of energy formed around both of their bodies, then solidified into a solid barrier and then faded from sight. "Shell!" A green bubble appeared around them and flashed, then it too vanished. "Reflect!"

Kirby watched as a mirror-like bubble made of blue hexagons formed around his and Paul's bodies, and vanished as well. "Wow, you sure do know a lot of protective magic, Don'tcha?" He asked.

"Yeah, you could say that." Paul said. He leaned to the side quickly, and a missile shot past him and blew a giant crater in the ground in front of him. "I probably wouldn't be alive right now if I didn't know all this magic, seriously!"

Kirby jumped and dodged another missile, and landed back on the ground and kept running. "I just figured this out. Even if we dodged all of these missiles, the debris could still kill us!"

"That's why I cast all those spells, silly!" Paul said. "Not much can hurt us now, seriously."

"...Is it time to attack, then?" Kirby inquired.

"...He he. Just turn around, and watch the fireworks, then!" Paul said.

"Whatcha gonna do?"

"Nothing!"

"...If you say so." Kirby replied. The duo stopped in their tracks and turned around, and watched as a bunch of missiles flew right at them.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Uh...Matt said to go this way...you guys still with me?" Link's voice asked nervously.

"Yeah." Luigi said.

"Chill out, I'm still with you." Ness said.

"Don't worry." Fox said. "We're all here."

"Whew." Link said, sounding relieved. "Ok, from what Matt said, the armory was down here somewhere...There it is."

There was a door at the end of the long, dark hallway, and in front of this specific door, a soldier lay asleep.

"...Perhaps we should knock him out." Fox suggested.

"No, we'll have to sneak past him." Ness said. "We can't afford to attack...yet!"

"Matt said to contact him when we got the weapons." Link said. "I'll go ahead and do it. You guys go in and get the stuff, and I'll let Matt know how we're doing."

"Ok, then." Luigi said. "We'll be back quick!"

Link waited until he could see the door behind the soldier opening and closing, then he deactivated his Cloaking device and pulled out his walkie-talkie

"Matt, you idiot." Link muttered. "Why didn't you think about the buttons being invisible too!?"

Link got busy hammering out his message, which was badly typed and full of errors because Link wasn't used to such technology yet. He was so busy typing, he didn't notice the soldier wake up and walk over to him.

"...Hey, what's that there, buddy?" He asked from behind his shoulder. Link whirled around, and gasped in surprise. The soldier backed up and pointed his machine gun at Link, and cocked his head as if to say, "I know you wanna get me, but you'll be dead before you take a step!"

Link was wearing a red tunic and black pants, with golden armor and boots on. He took one step forward, and POW!

The soldier flew across the room, and skidded down the wall with a stupid look on his face.

"...EVEN if you hit me, you wouldn't have done anything." Link said to the unconscious soldier. He happened to be wearing his Magic Armor.

The door opened up, and Fox, Luigi, and Ness came out carrying a giant sword, a long thin katana, a wicked powerful looking compact bow, and a pile of books., one of which was ocean blue.

"Well, we managed to find Durandal, Sol Katti, Reinfleche, and Tidal Wave." Fox said.

"Good." Link said. "We should get going. Matt's expecting us!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Beep beep beep!

"Incoming message." Bowser growled towards Matt.

"I know I know." Matt said. He deactivated his cloaking device and grabbed the walkie-talkie, then looked at the text message Link just sent him.

"Dood, we got da weapons and nkocked out hte juard. We be coning.

Simceraly yurs, Link

PS: Thnk through you plams more carfully."

"...They got the weapons." Matt said, turning the device off.

"Well, this is just way too easy." Bowser said, looking around at all of the KO'd guards.

"And we still haven't found Eliwood or the others!" Yoshi said.

"I want my DADDY!" Roy bellowed, making everybody flinch.

"Shut up!" Dr. Mario said, waving his arms about to emphasize his point.

"Pichu!" Pichu said.

"Wait...you can smell the others?" Bowser asked the mouse.

"Pi!"

"Ok then, the show's all yours!" Bowser said. He set her down on the ground, and she scampered away towards the end of the long hallways. There were empty jail cells that lined the whole hallway, and at the end was a turn, obviously.

"Hey, wait!" Link yelled from behind the group. They turned around to see Link, Fox, Luigi, and Ness running to catch up with them. "We're going to see them. Together."

"Let's go!" Yoshi said, running after Pichu.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kirby's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock, and he screamed.

At least fifty missiles flew towards them, but Paul stood his ground anyways. He watched the missiles come closer, then when the timing was right, jumped right into the most dangerous part possible, and did the in-your eye taunt.

Instead of exploding, there was a sharp pinging noise, and the missiles bounced right off his body and flew back towards the tanks. A missile bumped into Kirby, but it collided against an invisible shield and bounced right back without even touching him.

The missiles that were reflected all exploded at the same time, and sent the tanks to Tank Heaven.

The debris from all of the explosions shook the ground like there was an earthquake, and even though tons of stuff flew around, none of it harmed the two smashers. It all bounced off their shields, making tons of pinging noises and little ripples in the air around them, but nothing touched them.

"So, that was fun, wasn't it?" Paul asked Kirby, who still looked confused, shocked, and impressed, all at the same time.

"Fun? Fun...? Fun!?" Kirby exclaimed. "That was freaking crazy! I loved it!"

"Good." Paul said. "You probably need an ability for what we're going to do next, so swallow this." As he said that, Paul formed a ball of magic energy in his hand and pushed it towards Kirby.

The Star warrior looked at it for a few seconds, then swallowed it to become Magic Kirby! He pulled a top hat out of nowhere and put it on his head, then said, "Let's go!"

"Yeah! Now we're talking!" Paul cheered.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Pi!" Pichu squealed. She hopped up and down on the ground, and pointed at the jail cell at the end of the hallway. Link approached it carefully, then softly walked into the view of the people trapped inside.

Eliwood lay in the corner of the cell, knees tucked in and his head resting on his knees. He looked up when he saw Link, and it took a tiny bit for it to register in his blank mind.

"...My goodness, it's Link!" He exclaimed. His voice was hoarse, and his once grand attire was dull with the filth of the cell. Lilina, and Lyn, who were in the other corner in roughly the same position as Eliwood, lifted their heads, and smiled.

"Don't worry." Link said. "We're going to get you three outta this heck hole."

"That, would be appreciated." Lyn said. "I still can't believe GUN did all of this. Just who do they think they are?"

"That's what WE want to know." Link said, scratching his head with a confused look. "We've been fighting them for at least one or two months, and we haven't figured anything out yet."

"Have any of you seen my father, by any chance?" Lilina asked. "Last time I knew where he was, he was at the mansion..."

"No, we haven't seen Hector anywhere." Yoshi said. "Out of all of us smashers, he's probably one of the least likely to die."

"C'mon, let's get you outta here." Link said. He drew his sword and held it high above his head, then brought it down on the rusty lock...

BAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The lock exploded from the force of the blow, and Matt, Yoshi, and Bowser rushed in to help the prisoners up.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"HA HA HA!" Kirby yelled. "Watch this!"

He pulled his hat off his head and turned it upside down, and a bunch of doves flew out and started pecking the soldiers near him.

"GAH! Get 'em off me!" One of the guys shouted.

"Gale Cutter!" Paul shouted. He went through the same motions of launching one of his Sonic Cutters, but instead a gigantic wave of wind emanated from the sword, and spread out to bowl over scores of soldiers.

"HYYAA!" Kirby ran at the leftover soldiers still standing, and threw out a deck of cards. The cards shot straight forward like shuriken, and the soldiers still standing up were cut down by the projectiles.

"That's the last time I play poker!" One soldier swore, before Paul knocked him out with his sword.

More reinforcements flooded into the area of the camp where Paul and Kirby were, and started firing at the duo. Paul whirled in place and cast Reflect, which caused a dome of blue hexagons to materialize and repel the storm of bullets. Kirby quickly drew his scimitar and sent out a shockwave that blew a few soldiers down, and Paul followed up with Firaga. A gigantic explosion widened the crack in the blockade of soldiers, and the two dashed through and attacked them from the other side.

"Ha ha! Can't catch us!" Paul taunted from behind them.

"Neyh Neyh!" Kirby said. He grabbed his face and stretched it, and stuck his tongue out before dancing in place.

"Get them!" One of the commanders shouted.

"Haste!" Paul countered. He and Kirby were enveloped in a bubble of distorted time, and they zipped to the side so fast they were behind the soldiers again before the bullets even hit the dirt.

"Heyyoumissedyouidiots!" Paul jabbered at high speed.

"Hahaha!Yousuckers!" Kirby yelled.

The soldiers turned to face them and fired again, and the two ran right through the storm of bullets and blasted through the group, knocking them right over. They looped back and ran through the group again, blowing them aside with high-speed winds caused just by running. They continued running around the group until they formed a small twister, which sucked up the soldiers.

Paul and Kirby backed off, and the mage knight manipulated the tornado to form a ball of spinning high-speed winds, with the soldiers getting swirled about inside. Paul formed a rune with his fingers in midair, then focused his energy.

The wind ball shrank and started sucking in tons of air, and then it released all of it, along with the soldiers.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

"AUGH!!"

"MOMMY!!"

The soldiers were scattered all over the place, and when the wind calmed down a bit, Kirby said, "That was sweet!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The other team escaped the castle, and by now Eliwood and the other two captives recovered enough of their former stamina to fight.

Link strolled out of the main gate, where the two guards from earlier were still standing.

"Hey, you, st-"

Link swatted both of his arms to the side, and the two soldiers flew back from the force of the blows. They smacked up against the walls and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"C'mon!" Link shouted. "The Gummi Ship is this way!" He bolted down the center road of the city, and the rest of the team followed quickly. Lyn quickly caught up to him on foot, and ran alongside him.

"Thanks for the help back there, but I have a score to settle with GUN." Lyn said.

"Where are you going?" Link asked.

"I'm going over to their camp, and I'm going to thrash them so bad they'll be scared to even look at a picture of us!" Lyn replied. Then, she ran forwards so fast Link wondered if she didn't just warp...

"Once you make Lyn mad, you may as well kick the bucket." Eliwood said from behind him.

"Yeah...no kidding." Link grimaced. He almost felt sorry for the rest of the soldiers...ALMOST.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Paul and Kirby just finished blasting aside a few soldiers with some more magic attacks, when, there was a whoosh of air behind them. They whirled around to face Lyn, who was looking at the soldiers with an insane amount of fury.

"Step aside." She said simply.

The duo didn't step aside. They fled. Lyn was in crazy mode!

"HY-YAAAAAAAAAA!!" Lyn yelled. She zipped over to the soldiers so fast, they didn't see her coming. She blasted right through them with her five-foot long katana, the Sol Katti, and after she skidded to a halt, the soldiers fell down dead. More soldiers appeared from who knows where, and fired at her with machine guns and missile launchers. Lyn deflected all of the bullets in a blur, then shot way into the air when the missiles blew up the ground she was on. She drew her bow, Reinfleche, and fired an arrow.

It pierced a soldier right in between the eyes, and she was still a hundred feet above them! Lyn drew another arrow, and started shooting them as fast as she could. The soldiers ran for their lives, but none of the arrows missed their mark. When Lyn landed, she already had her katana out, and she chased after the soldiers.

She ran between two tents, and a soldier jumped out of hiding to spear her on a sword-gun thingy.

"Rockseal." Lyn said. She touched the soldier's face, and he had precisely a second to scream before he turned to stone. Lyn ran past him and after the rest of the runaways, who started firing at her again.

She vanished the second the first bullet touched her, and the soldiers looked forwards only to see her running after them at top speed!

By the time they noticed where she was, she was already on the other side of their ground, crouched down on the ground, and sword held out to the side.

One soldier gasped, and they all fell to the ground, dead, with a single slash wound.

Paul and Kirby watched the massacre from a nearby tree. The mage knight took a second to look at a watch on his wrist, and flinched.

"Twenty seconds." Paul whistled.

"What is she, a demon?" Kirby asked.

Lyn looked in their direction, and pulled out her bow and arrow so fast they didn't have time to warn one another. She shot an arrow right after them, and Paul moved his head to the side. The arrow thudded into the wood right next to his left ear, and he looked at it nervously from the side.

They lost their balance, and came tumbling out of the tree. Paul landed on his head, and then on his back, while Kirby safely bounced like a rubber ball.

"Oh, it's you." Lyn said. "...Uh...Sorry about all of that."

"No problem." Paul squeaked out.

Link and the rest of the party ran up, and gasped to refill their lungs with air.

"So, what's the record this time?" Matt asked, as if wanting the time of day.

"Twenty seconds." Kirby said.

"That's a new record." Lyn commented. "Just like old days, eh?"

"Lyn?" Fox said. "These aren't wire frames...they're people."

"You didn't know them like I did." Lyn snarled. "You wouldn't believe how evil they were. I just did them a favor."

"Whoa, take it easy!" Link said. "We didn't know."

"...I'm sorry." Lyn sighed. "I...Well, this was just a warm up, really."

"How so?" Luigi asked, his legs shaking violently. He could still sense Lyn's battle lust.

"The rest of the soldiers were off on break." Lyn replied. "By myself, I probably just took out, say, one percent of them on my own."

"What the hey do they need a whole army here for!?" Kirby protested from below. "I mean, come ON!"

"Forgive me for interrupting, but I believe this is the first time I've heard you speak, Kirby." Lilina said.

"...Eh, people got tired of me saying 'Poyo' all the time." Kirby said, shrugging. "But seriously, why all the soldiers?"

"They were GUN patriots, really." Lyn said. "All of them were Lycian men that agreed with what GUN was doing. Put simply, Traitors."

"What're people going to think of you for cutting down your own people?" Fox asked.

"They're not my people." Lyn said. "I abdicated the rule of Caelin and let Ostia rule. I was going to return and try finding the rest of you, when GUN captured me."

"Oh, I see...But then how the heck did they capture you!?" Paul yelled all of a sudden. "That fight back there was just genius! Who was powerful enough to catch you?"

Lyn frowned at the ground, and then looked back up at the rest of the group. "I was caught by one of their generals."

"Whoa, hold on a sec." Matt laughed. "You mean a GUN general caught you? That's the funniest joke I've ever heard!" And with that, Matt collapsed on the floor in a fit of giggles.

"It's not funny!" Lyn shouted angrily, color flooding into her face. "I know GUN's reputation too! But they must have hired somebody with ridiculous power, because I didn't stand a chance against him!"

"Ok, so some general pops up outta nowhere, and caught you?" Matt asked, still wiping tears of laughter out of his face.

"He...h-he could manipulate time or something." Lyn spoke haltingly. "I have no idea how he did it. He dodged every single one of my attacks, and then knocked me out with a single punch! It...was like he could see every single move I made."

"...That's interesting." Ness commented. "We better be careful if we fight him. By the sounds of things, we might not be able to defeat somebody with power like that."

"...What did he look like?" Matt asked suddenly, and seriously.

"...Well, he seemed to be about six feet tall..." Lyn said. "Um, he had on a blue suit with tons of badges all over it, he had a fair bit of muscle on him, and his grey hair was cut something like what one of you might call a military cut."

"Ok...Anything else?" Matt asked.

"The craziest thing was his eyes." Lyn said. "One was brown, and the other blue."

"The Commander!?" Matt screamed. "How the did he get so powerful like that?!"

"The GUN Commander was the one who beat you!?" Link asked, eyes wide. "Is he still here!?"

"No, he left right after catching me." Lyn said. "Of course, I only found that out after I woke up a week later in the same cell as Eliwood."

"I tried to wake her up." Eliwood said. "But she was so thoroughly knocked out, she didn't wake up even when I poured my whole water ration in her face."

"A sacrifice I appreciate greatly." Lyn said sincerely. "Thankfully, the commander left and didn't come back. As you know, we were then moved a few days later to Ostia for our execution."

"And that's where they met me." Lilina added. "My father would explode if he knew GUN was mucking about in his castle."

"Hector always was protective of his belongings." Eliwood sighed.

"Daddy." Roy said, smiling stupidly. He ran and hugged his dad, who, because he was pulled from the past, was almost the same exact age as his son was, biologically.

"I noticed something wrong with my son." Eliwood sighed, peeling Roy off with his hands. "Did GUN do something to him?"

"They hit him on the head." Dr. Mario said, walking towards the two. "After Roy woke up from the hit, his mental faculties deteriorated with time, making him this."

Everybody watched Roy act like a moron, ranging from him break dancing to slobbering on random bugs on the grounds.

"Can he recover?" Eliwood asked sadly.

"Oh yes, this type of insanity is possible to recover from." Dr. Mario said. "However...I think some form of shock must wake up some of his old memories. He'll have to see somebody that is really special to him, or likewise."

At this, Lilina threw herself on Roy, and looked into his eyes. He only looked back at her, and held up a shiny beetle.

Lilina hesitated, then gently took the bug and walked away with tears leaking from her eyes.

"That's not working." Dr. Mario said, stating the obvious. "...He'll recover his memory someday, mark my words!"

"So, what do we do about the rest of the army?" Link said. "We can't just leave them to terrorize Lycia!"

"My point exactly." Lyn said. "I'm all for sending them packing. I'm not trying to be an inhumane killer, but this place will be better without this scum scurrying about."

"Lyn, even when people were my mortal foes, rarely have I killed them for being on the opposing side." Link said determinedly. "If you're going to continue killing instead of giving them a second chance, then I'm going to fight you, here and now, and knock you out."

"..."

"Lyn, listen to me. I don't care who they are, we don't have any right to decide whether they have the right to live or not."

Lyn stood still for a moment, then threw her weapons down on the ground and buried her face in her hands.

Link watched her for a moment, and started turning to walk off when Lyn started saying something.

"...I-I've never fought like you before, Link. I don't have your strength. I've never held back in my whole life. Never."

Link turned to face her again as she looked up.

"Long before I joined the super smash brothers, I've fought enemies with hearts blacker than the darkest night, people that would never give me a second chance. I don't know what to do."

"...If these men are really as evil as you say they are, Lyn, then I have no right to speak to you that way. Nor do I have the right to tell you how to fight. Kill, if you must, but I'm doing this my way. Where did GUN go?"

"They went east of here." Lyn choked. "They went back towards the middle of Lycia."

"Then I'm leaving." Link said. "Anybody that wants to help can come, I really don't care. When we first started this quest, we all made an agreement to each other to remain humane, even if our enemies did not. I'm going to stop GUN, and the only time I will kill is if I have absolutely no other choice."

"I'm in." Fox said.

"So am I." Matt said.

"Pichu!" Pichu said.

"You can't leave me out!" Paul said.

Everybody else agreed, and Link marched off towards the biggest battlefield they had ever come across before. Lyn finally got herself together, and ran off after them, eager to prove she was just as strong as either of them, and just as kind.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**...Ok, I really don't know what to say.**

**Next chapter's gonna be a huge fight as the Smashers fight to eradicate GUN from Lycia, then after that they'll move on to Renais to rescue the twins, Ephraim and Erika.**

**Why has the GUN commander started showing up outside his office? Usually, such people let everybody else do the fighting, so he must be up to something...**

**Thank you all for your reviews! (Even though they're dwindling...) I really appreciate them.**

**I'll see what I can do about updating. I'll probably update in a day or two, depending on how fast I type and whether inspiration hits me or not. Inspiration is mainly why this chapter is large, so yeah.**

**Ok, thanks for reading everybody, and thank you so much, those of you who reviewed! See you all next time, and take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and PLEASE REVIEW!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	45. So THIS is where my money went!

He he, people must be busy this summer or something

**He he, people must be busy this summer or something. Not too many people reading, but for all of you that are reading, you have my thanks! ('Specially you, GerudoGirl89, WOMDDD, and Answers&Questions!)**

**Nobody commented on my PKMN Trainer/Ash switch, so...I guess nobody minds.**

**Now, as far as this chapter, I'm not too sure how long it will end up. It'll be at least average in size. (For me, that's roughly 3,000 words, or around ten Microsoft Word pages.) **

**And The Legend of Zelda, the Phantom Hourglass! GADZOOKS, that's a good game! If any of you have a DS, and like Zelda, it is awesome. Then again, that's just my opinion.**

**As for adding new characters, other than the ones I mentions, I have no plans to add anymore, but if somebody submits an especially good OC, or mentions a character from some game series that I'm familiar with, and haven't added yet, then I may just add them. Seriously, it depends on whether I can fit them in or not, so no hard feelings!**

**Now, I'd say this whole arc is about a third of the way finished. I'm pretty sure that not many of you people have hands-on experience in the Fire Emblem world, which is understandable. Fire Emblem 7, the one with Eliwood, Lyn, and Hector, is really hard to find. The only reason I've even played it is I got lucky at Target.**

**Now, enough of my ranting. You didn't come to this website to read annoying author's notes, now, did you!? Let's get started!**

**-Chapter XXXXV-**

**-So this is where all of my taxpayer's dollars went!-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" the general screamed, "Find who did this, and kill them!"

"Sir, it was the smashers, sir." a soldier told him.

They were standing in the ruins of the camp near Ostia. Frankly, it looked like a tornado struck there and tried to break dance. Of course, all of the wind related damage was Paul's doing...

BANG!

"AH!" The general screamed. A tent next to him randomly exploded, and blew junk everywhere. "JUST GET ME THOSE SMASHERS!!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link and co. were presently running across a dirt road.

The hylian was at the lead of the group. He was stooped over slightly, and running so fast that even the others had trouble keeping up with him. They kicked up so much dust, it looked like a dust devil was zooming about at high speed.

So far, there was no signs of the GUN occupation army, except for the trail, and millions of footprints and tank treads.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I don't see why the Commander wants us to meet with Bern's king." a general asked his subordinates. "From what I've heard, he's just as loopy as the commander is!"

"Anything to get rid of those terrorists," One of his soldiers replied, "Obviously we lack the strength to get rid of them ourselves..."

"And I still haven't heard from Ostia yet," The general complained, "They were supposed to let me know the moment they executed those three lords!"

"Alert! Alert!" One of the soldiers suddenly shouted, "INCOMING!!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Upon seeing the army up ahead, the Smashers picked up their speed, and shot right into the rear guard of the army.

Link jumped, and since he was going so fast, he flew right over the heads of at least fifty soldiers, and crashed into one of their supply trucks. He smashed into the back with a huge crash, then sprung right back up and held his sword high into the air.

"Today's the day you made the mistake of messing with us Smashers!" Link cried. With that, he whirled around. With a single slash, the truck split in half, and exploded.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!! They're here!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

"What was that!?" The general shouted.

"It's the smashers! They're here!"

"Grr...Give them your best! We have to stop them!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Everybody else caught up, and then chaos really ensued.

Link already got to work, smacking soldiers with the flat of his sword. Anybody that was lucky enough to not be his target pulled out their guns, and surrounded him.

PINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPING!

The bullets bounced off his body like it was made of metal, and he charged up a spin attack. When he released it, it sent out a ring of light that blew them all backwards, and up into the air.

Lyn dashed in, and deflected a missile aimed at Link's back. The soldier that fired it grunted in annoyance, and hurried to reload before anything bad happened...

SHING!

Lyn was instantly in front of him, and he watched in horror as the missile launcher split in half. He growled and pulled out a bayonet, which was also split in half by a super fast slash. Before he could do anything else, Lyn spun on one leg like a top, and her other leg shot out and smashed into his head, instantly KO'ing him.

Behind the two sword fighters, there was a large group of soldiers running backwards, firing their guns at Paul, who ran right at them, protected by a blue dome of hexagons. He blew them right over on their butts with a large gust of wind, then fired a tornado towards them. They screamed as they flew up into the air, where Kirby intercepted them with his hammer. Dull whacks that sounded similarly like thunder were heard, and the soldiers came flying back to the ground with giant mallet-shaped bruises on their heads.

Dr. Mario ran past the pile of KO'd soldiers, and right up to a guy with two machine guns. The soldier tried firing both of them at the doctor, thinking that he was defenseless. Instead, Mario's clone shot right under his legs, jumped into the air, and jabbed him in the neck with one of his fingers. The soldier fell limp to the ground after Dr. Mario poked his pressure point, unable to do anything.

"C'mon, Roy!" Dr. Mario said. He looked for his insane pal...and found him in the last place he expected.

"COWABUNGA!" Roy screamed. He was riding at the top of a massive tidal wave, on what looked like a scrap piece of metal.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!"

The tidal wave crashed into the ground like a bomb, and sent a huge amount of water rushing across the ground. Dr. Mario dodged by jumping up and over the wave before it hit him.

"Nice one, Lilina!" Matt said.

"Thanks!" Lilina replied. She put her blue spell tome away, and swapped it for a small green book. With a wave of her hand, a gust of wind appeared and deflected a few bullets headed their way. Matt retaliated with a few lightning charged bullets, which hit the soldiers in the legs and knocked them out with a surge of electricity. Luigi ran past at high speed, fast enough to set the ground ablaze.

He headed right for another group of retreating soldiers, and lowered his head...

While Pichu and Yoshi busied themselves with beating up on anybody stupid enough to get within range of their attacks, there was a loud noise like a bowling ball smashing into some pins, and they looked to see a massive cloud of men flying past them, screaming. Luigi skidded into view, who was standing sideways and leaning away from the men. He was apparently trying to slow down.

He slipped on some mud, and went toppling into another supply truck hard enough to knock it over.

"Ohhhh..." Luigi moaned before passing out.

Fox ran towards him as fast as he could, and when he reached the water, he sprayed ice from the end of his staff and skated towards Luigi. He grabbed the plumber by his suspenders and slung him over on his back, and spun around to shoot a fireball at the truck. It exploded in a mini mushroom cloud, and then Fox focused all of his ice energy into his shoes.

He continued skating across the ice at high speed, and when he faced a bunch of soldiers in a hurry to escape the rapidly freezing water, he activated his jet spell on his staff, and rocketed towards them. He shot past them and missed them on purpose, but his ice powers spread throughout the water, and the wet soldiers...

Seconds after Fox passed them, there was a whole section of ice sculptures.

Eliwood thawed them out with a wave of fire from the Blazing Sword, Durandal, and the thawed soldiers instantly fell over unconscious. The ice also evaporated, and created a huge cloud of fog.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Visibility went down." One of the soldiers inside the general's tank reported, "It's like pea soup out there!"

"I don't remember the weather saying anything about fog..." The general said, concerned, "...Deploy the Flamethrowers!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Bowser stomped his way through the fog, blindly trying to search for more soldiers to beat up when there was a huge amount of metal clanking up ahead. He crouched low to the ground and shot ahead, sending sparks out everywhere and gliding like a ghost, when he ran right into a human-shaped robot. He took a few steps back and held his sore head, and looked at the metal robot that towered over his head.

The robot looked back at him, and the lenses in its 'eyes' adjusted to focus on Bowser. It held up a massive arm with a barrel shaped end, which a few hoses led to from a huge tank on its back. It fired a huge cloud of fire at Bowser, who just took the blow head on.

The fog evaporated quickly, and after the robot stopped shooting fire, it watched as Bowser re-appeared.

He was rubbing himself like he was in a shower, and when he noticed there wasn't anymore fire, he turned angrily towards the Flamethrower.

"Oi!" Bowser bellowed angrily, "Don't stop shooting now! Can't you see I'm enjoyi-"

BLAM!

The robot fired a concentrated fireball at Bowser's face point-blank, and the koopa king stumbled backwards from the shot.

"Ok, you asked for it!" Bowser roared. He inhaled deep, then exhaled a huge cloud of white fire. The flamethrower instantly melted and exploded when the heat touched it, and Bowser stomped through the wreckage, ready to go on a rampage.

"RAAAAAAAH!!"

Some soldiers jumped Bowser from the cover of the fog, but Bowser simply grabbed them and tossed them aside like they were rags. He noticed some off goggles on their faces, so he stomped over and stole a pair. He put them on and saw a bunch of red fugures dashing through the fog, and only after he saw a red shape like one of the flamethrowers shooting out a red cloud did he realize they were heat vision goggles.

He ran after some soldiers he saw, and snuck up behind them...

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRR!!" Boswer roared. The soldiers screamed and instantly fainted, and Bowser stomped off, satisfied. One more soldier leapt at Bowser and tried hitting him with a sword, but the weapon just bounced off Bowser's head.

"Ya got a lot of moxie doing that." Bowser growled. He grabbed the soldier and beat on him like he was a sandbag, chewed on him a bit, then tossed him into the air and head butted him away before finding some other dummies to beat up.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Luigi was back on his feet, and the second he was conscious again, he took off into the fog...

He put on his Vanish Cap, and vanished from sight. Not even special goggles will see him now!

So he thought.

A soldier tackled him from his right, and Luigi was too surprised at being caught to retaliate right away. The soldier socked Luigi hard in the face, and Luigi shocked him with a blast of lightning to shake him off. The soldier's goggles fried, and he was left in the soup without anything to guide him.

"Heh heh! Catch me now!" Luigi taunted.

The soldier got up and blindly ran about, swinging his fists in an attempt to hit the plumber. Luigi snuck up behind him and charged a huge amount of static electricity into his hand, then gently poked the guy in the back.

Link and Lyn continued fighting most of the soldiers, when there was a gigantic clap of thunder, and high pitched screaming.

"What was that?" Lyn asked as she kicked a guy away.

"That would be Luigi's Zap Tap." Link explained. "He's been itching to test that out for some while."

"Sounds...Painful." Lyn chuckled.

"Sure did." Link said, "Hey, Paul! Get rid of the fog! We don't need it anymore!"

"Aww, but I like sneaking up on people!" The mage knight yelled from far away.

"I know you do, but we don't need it anymore!" Link said, "Just do it!"

"Fine!"

Paul focused his power and drew some from his sword, then a strong breeze blew from right above him and down to the ground, where it spread out. The fog quickly dissipated, and the soldiers were briefly disoriented as heat from the sun disrupted their goggles.

Bowser had already torched all of the Flamethrowers, so all that was left were the tanks, and a few random soldiers standing about.

The soldiers took their goggles off, and the first thing most of them said, was, "Uh oh."

"You said it!" Bowser roared, pouncing on the nearest guy he could find. He grabbed the soldier and head-bonked him, then flipped WAY high into the air and squished him on the ground.

In a few seconds, the leftover soldiers were rendered unconscious, and all that was left was the tanks.

"HOLY CRAP!" the general shouted from the hatch atop his tank, "What happened!?"

"We had a little fun." Yoshi replied honestly.

"Oh no! We've got to get to Bern quick!"

"Bern!?" Eliwood shouted in shock, "Link! I think that GUN commander person may be looking for an alliance with Zephiel!"

"Zephiel!?" Link shouted, "I thought he was dead!"

"He's back...Somehow!" Eliwood said.

"How did you know!?" The general shouted back, "Unfortunately, I'm not letting you stop me!"

"It's hundreds of miles to get to Bern!" Eliwood said, "How do you expect to get there without being stopped!?"

"Like this!" The GUN general replied. Jet engines appeared from compartments on the sides of the tanks.

"Uh oh! HE'S GETTING AWAY!" Matt bellowed.

The general waved his hat and hopped back inside the tank, which then shot forwards so fast the ground underneath the treads was ripped up. Some of the tanks, though, only buried themselves from trying to go fast. Eliwood, Bowser, Matt, Roy, Luigi, and Kirby destroyed the tanks that floundered about in the dirt, but Fox, Paul, Link, Lyn, Ness, and Dr. Mario hurried off after the General's tank.

"HASTEGA!" Paul yelled, imbuing the team with super speed. They tore off after the runaway tank, which was still way ahead of them.

"Man, there they go." Matt said as he dropped the unconscious soldier that WAS inside one of the tanks, until he blew it up.

"Think they'll be ok?" Kirby asked.

"We can catch up in the Gummi Ship!" Luigi said, "...I think!"

"Well, let's hurry, then!" Bowser said. "We can't let that GUN dude meet with Zephiel!"

"But how did he return from the dead!?" Matt asked.

"We'll find that out." Bowser said, not wanting to think what all of it could mean...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The six smashers that ran after the tank were going so fast, their legs were a blur. Even with them going at quadruple speed, they couldn't break the gap between themselves and the tank.

Speaking of tank...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

"Iwishthey'dstopfiringatus!" Fox complained.

"Yeah?Whatmakesyouthinkthey'dwanttofailtheirmission,huh?" Link asked.

"Yeah!TheysaidtheywanttomeetZephiel,whoshouldbedeadbytheway,sotheycanmakeanalliance!" Lyn said.

"Whatdowedo?" Ness wondered.

"Ican'tmakeusgoanyfaster,sowebetterhavesomethingthatcanhelpusnow,orwe'llnevercatchthem!" Paul jabbered.

"Ithinki'llplaytheInvertedSongofTime!" Link said, snapping his fingers, "Icanslowdowntime,andifthatworks,wecancatchthetank!"

"But the slowed time will...Uh oh!" Paul shouted.

"The Haste spell wore off!" Fox gasped.

"Trust me!" Link said. "Y. Link taught me the Inverted Song of Time, and it works! You gotta trust me!" Link said.

"Fine! Do it! We're running outta time!" Ness screamed.

Link quickly pulled out his blue ocarina, and began playing an odd melody. While he played the Song of Time backwards, clocks materialized in midair, and slowed to a slug's crawl. When Link put the ocarina away, he still moved at normal speed. Everybody else moved, and found that they could too!

"Cast Haste again." Link said. "We'll be able to catch up to the tank by walking now."

"If you say so." Paul said, "HASTEGA!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Time still seemed to be flowing normally for the GUN soldiers in the tank, so they didn't notice anything.

"Ha! That last cannon blast got 'em!" The guy controlling the cannon cheered.

"You idiot! You missed!" The general shouted. He smacked the cannon guy upside the head.

Suddenly, there was a huge amount of wind, and Link could be seen standing in front of the tank, all for one second.

THUMP!!

"What the heck happened?" the general asked.

"...Uh, I think we ran over a stump." The guy at the controls said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Doh..." Link moaned. He was pancaked in the dirt. Even though he was wearing his Magic armor...

"DAT REALLY HURT!" Link screamed.

"Let's try that again, shall we?" Fox suggested, plucking his pal up from the ground.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back in the tank, they continued shooting along at ridiculous speeds, when six figures suddenly shot in front.

Next thing the GUN soldiers knew, they were flying about in the air, spinning around crazily. They bashed about, bouncing around inside the tank like it was a giant washing machine.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Again, in slow motion...

The six smashers ran alongside the tank, and past it. Fifty yards ahead of it, they stopped and faced it together, like a wall.

The tank came towards them, at a speed that seemed like ten miles per hour in their super speed.

They all crouched at the same time, and when the time was right, they grabbed the front of the tank...

And hurled it right over their heads!

They spun to watch it flip through the air, and when they jets kept firing, the tank started flying and spinning through the air.

Link watched amusedly as the tank flew about for a few minutes, and after they watched it for about three minutes, time went back to normal, and the tank shot about like a wild firework on crack.

"MOVE IT!' Dr. Mario shouted. The smashers ran aside just in time. The tank came hurtling towards them, and missed them just by a few feet. It slammed right into the ground, and went down a few feet. The jets smashed into the ground, and then broke off. They went shooting about, until they crashed into some nearby trees and exploded.

After that, everything went silent. The tank groaned, and completely shut off, making the woods silent once again.

The smashers stood still for a bit, recovering their breath, then they went up to the tank.

"Next time you try stopping a tank speeding along at three hundred miles per hour, remember that physics are against you." Fox said.

"Even if time's slowed down?" Link asked, shocked.

"Even if time's slowed down." Paul repeated.

"Oh well...I'll figure it all out someday." Link answered. He walked up to the tank, then turned back to Paul and said, "Hey, cast Haste on me one last time."

"Why?" Paul asked.

"I'm going to cut through the tank with a spin attack." Link explained, "I'm going for a little bit of the fear factor here."

"Whatever. Haste!"

The familiar red roman numerals swirled around Link, who nodded his thanks in high speed, then executed his Spin attack.

He turned into a gigantic buzz saw. He spun so fast, his sword seemed to become a single ring-shaped blade around his body, and he tilted right into the tank and started cutting right through it. The noise was horrible, so everybody else fled and hid behind some trees.

Link continued cutting through the tank, and when he cut a giant hole in the area near the windshield, he slowed down as the effects of the Haste spell wore off. He crawled right into the tank and pulled the unconscious general out, and shook him.

The general, who was by now pretty bloody and in bad shape, woke up looking into Link's sharp eyes. He anxiously turned his head and looked at his tank, which had a giant hole cut in the front.

"...Do as I say, right now." Link whispered in his ear, "You stay right here, until reinforcements pick you up. We didn't kill any of your men, but we could very easily do so. We just trashed your whole army without even breaking a sweat, and we don't expect you to attack us back. If you do so, we won't hesitate to strike back."

"...What're you going to do about us?" The general asked. "...You can't stop us. You'll fail, ultimately."

"What makes you think so?" Link asked. He shook the man roughly, until he answered.

"We're just the small fry. There are bigger fish than us in the pond. You can't swim outta this one now...Ha HA!"

"...I'm done talking to you, worm." Link said. "When we meet again, it'll be the last time."

After saying his last words, Link tossed the man back on the ground where he once again lost consciousness. He walked back to the big tree where the rest of his friends were standing, and then walked back along the path they followed to head back towards Ostia.

"Man, that was intense." Fox said, "You did awesome.'

"Thanks, Fox." Link said.

"...What do you think he meant by 'Bigger fish'?" Lyn asked.

"He may have been just trying to scare us, "Dr. Mario said, "But then he could be speaking the truth. Maybe the commander has a secret group of super generals he hasn't revealed yet?"

"We can only find out." Link said. "For now, let's just regroup with the others."

They walked down the path for a few minutes, until the Gummi ship shot back into view.

It soared over their heads, then made a u-turn and settled down on the ground a few yards away from the group. The hatch opened up, and Kirby sprung out.

"Hurry up, guys! We gotta go!" He insisted, "You stopped the tank, right?"

"Of course." Ness replied, "Link did most of the work though."

"That's Link for you." Paul said.

Matt popped into view, and urgently motioned that they get on board. Paul, Lyn, Kirby, Ness, Dr. Mario, and Fox went on inside the ship, but Matt waited personally for Link to board before doing anything.

Upon stepping inside the ship, Matt shut the door, and faced the hylian.

"Did you see those massive jets on the sides of those tanks?" He asked.

"Yeah. Kinda hard not to." Link grinned.

"...Makes me wonder what those bums do with all that good tax money we give them." Matt sighed, before heading towards the cockpit.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**AND that's it for this chapter! Now, the team's headed for Renais, and they've successfully rescued Eliwood, Lyn, and Lilina. How fares the Twins of Renais?**

**Are they still alive, and awaiting rescue? Or, did GUN spread the news of the attacks already, and go ahead with the executions?**

**YOU, my reader friends, get to find out next chapter. If you have the time, please let me know what you guys think!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	46. Rescue in Renais

GAH

**GAH! IT BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURNS!!**

**...Oh man... was one sucky writer when I first started Supremacy. I went back to read a few of the first chapters for the fun of it...OW!!**

**Someday...SOMEDAY, I'm gonna go back, and fix all of those first crappy chapters. They look like some doofus wrote them. SO...SO AMATEUR!!**

**Yeah, enough of my ranting, though. My eye's still twitching from all of the idiocy... Anyways, thank you, all of you who reviewed! This chapter shall focus on the rescue of Ephraim and Erika, the Twins of Renais...If they haven't been executed yet.**

**I guess summer laziness really DID kick in or something! Yeah, there's been trouble with the alerts thingy again. I first noticed it when I didn't get an email telling me that I updated my story. Thank you again, SuperSmasher025, and GerudoGirl89, for sticking with me. I just hope those alerts get fixed again soon!**

**Ok, let's just get a good dose of adventure and be done for the day, aye? Before I forget, I should say this. I'm NOT anti-government. This is just a story, and that's it. It has nothing to do with me or anybody else, except that it is just something for you people to read and enjoy. I do not own anything but the plot and my own OCs. Kbxshadow owns Aliana (who has yet to appear again), Sarcastic Turkey owns Xanxi (If it's ok, I'd like to continue having your OC in this story.), Supersmasher025 owns Jun (Who will also appear again, and more often than the last story), Nintendogeek01 owns Night Claw (Used to be Felious, for those of you that read Supremacy. Nintendogeek01 also has a really good series going in the Ultimate Marvel section, for anybody interested.), Calderious owns the shy guy duo, Spam and Snurckle (Who I also enjoyed having in the last story. Calderious, if you're reading this, I'd like to keep these two shy guys in. They've grown on me.), and Slam422 owns Matt, the mechanical genius. I don't think I left anybody out, did I? And for the clincher, all materials in this story belong to their respective owners.**

**Now, let's go! (How's that for a disclaimer?)**

**-Chapter XXXXVI-**

**-Rescue in Renais-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

-Renais Castle-

Renais never had need for dungeons. Before the War of Stones, there never was evil enough to require a dungeon in the castle.

King Fado was a good man, and the father of Erika and Ephraim. However, he fell in battle, defending his castle against the empire of Grado, a country that once was their ally. Grado, in the end, was found to be manipulated by the foul Demon King, the very demon that had possessed Crown Prince Lyon. He was used to resurrect the Demon King from the earth, and again he was struck down by Magvell's greatest warriors. He once again appeared in the War of Supremacy, a few months back...and he wasn't destroyed. The only person that knows of the Demon King's...well, the fact that he's still alive is the Twilight Princess, Midna.

Now Ephraim and Erika are prisoners in their own castle, captured and detained by GUN, or more commonly known to the people as the World Government Army.

The common people see GUN as heroes, because that's what they are spoon-fed. They know nothing of the atrocities GUN commits behind their backs, but someday, they'll find out.

But now, all the twins have to look forward to is rotting in their bedroom until their execution day comes...

Little did they know the chance for escape would finally come to them this day.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"...Brother, how many days has it been, now?" Erika asked. She lay sprawled on a large, ornate bed, of which there were two. One was hers, and the other was Ephraim's. Ephraim paced the room like a caged lion, ready to pounce.

"I don't know." Ephraim said, "I've lost track. It's been so many days already I've lost track."

"Too bad we cannot read the markings on the _carpet._" Erika sighed. She looked at the rug on the marble floor, and there was a circle where the carpet was missing. Ephraim paced so much, he wore a part of the rug away. "I'd really appreciate it if you stopped pacing, you know. Tana gave that rug to me, and I still like it..."

He didn't notice the hole...He looked down at the rug, which now lay on the floor with a giant ragged O cut into it. Ephraim slowly looked up into the air, and heaved a gigantic sigh. He stepped off the rug and approached his closet, where he pulled out a pole, and started swinging it around.

"Watch the vase!" Erika shrieked.

Ephraim didn't stop swinging the pole in time, and it smacked into a marble vase on a little dark-wood table. With surprising quickness, Erika leapt off the bed and caught the vase before it shattered.

"Whew..." She sighed. Too soon.

Ephraim swung the pole around again, this time spinning it sideways like a buzz saw. The end of the pole caught the vase, and blasted it right from Erika's grasp. It rolled across the ground, and bumped into a wall with a hollow thud.

Erika scampered after it, and slipped on the part of the rug that was burned/worn off from the rest of the rug. She skidded right into the vase at high speed, and the vase smacked into another wall, cracked, and bounced off back towards Ephraim, who was still lost in his own world.

The door to the room creaked open, and a burly GUN soldier with a gigantic gun in his hand stepped in. Ephraim whirled around so fast, that when the pole hit the broken vase, it went flying towards the soldier and smacked him right in the kisser. It hit him so hard, it knocked him right over and down to the ground, where he pulled the trigger of his gun accidentally. The misfire hit the ceiling and broke a tile loose, which fell and hit the man in the face a second time, completely knocking him out.

"...Holy St. Latona!" Ephraim gasped. "What just happened!?"

"You broke my vase!" Erika growled, her face turning crimson.

"...Hold on a moment." Ephraim said, starting to get excited. "The guard that was going to take us to our execution just got KO'd...We can escape!"

"Are you quite daft!?" Erika shouted. "YOU BROKE MY VASE!"

Ephraim ran towards the door, and leapt right over the soldier's unconscious carcass, and motioned anxiously for Erika to come. She sighed in exasperation, and leapt after her brother.

"This is the plan." Ephraim said, "I've been thinking about it the whole time since we've been shut in there...We're going to hide in the secret room beneath the throne, and wait for help to come!"

"But what about food and water?" Erika asked, "We cannot stay in there for forever!"

"We'll use the Sacred Twins to aid our escape!" Ephraim said, "They are still down there. We can take them, take a rest, and escape when the right moment comes!"

"And what about the Waiser Rapier, and Longinus?" Erika asked. "They're some of the most important weapons in existence! We can't just leave them here."

"We'll get help, and take our castle back." Ephraim said, "But now, we fly! We must get to the throne before anybody notices us missing!"

"Sometimes I wonder if captivity hasn't gotten to your head." Erika sighed. "Very well, let us go!"

Ephraim took the lead, running down the hallway as silent as a cat. Erika carefully followed him down a few hallways, and they didn't run into any guards. Most of them must have left for the nearby town for the execution, which also worked as a demonstration, a killing of 'traitors'. How very narrow minded...and convenient.

They made it to the throne just fine, and the twins held up their bracelets. Both of the bracelets were the same size, but they had a different gem set into them. Ephraim's Sol Bracer was embedded with a milky ruby, and Erika's Lunar Bracer was decorated with a milky sapphire.

The two magic bracers, the keys to Renais' secret room, lit up, and the large throne moved aside on a tile to reveal a staircase going underground. Erika went inside first, and Ephraim went in after her. He stopped when his head was level with the ground, and took one last look around to make sure nobody was there.

Perfect. It was too smooth, too convenient. He grabbed the handle beneath the throne, and pulled it back over his head, sealing the passage back up and in darkness.

Below, Erika found a torch and lit it, and Ephraim hesitated before going down to meet up with her. He was eager to hear the chaos break out when they discovered him and his sister 'escaped'.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"We're nearing Magvell." Fox said.

"We're on the eastern seaboard." Matt said, looking at the holographic map from the hologram machine. "We won't be there for at least another hour or two."

"We're running out of time." Link said, seriously. "GUN can communicate faster than we can travel. If I know anything about this type of stuff, it's that GUN will be waiting for us. I hate to say it, but Erika and Ephraim may be dead already, unless they got super lucky."

"Super lucky." Dr. Mario scoffed, "I wish that were us, all the time."

"We've been ok lucky." Paul said. "It could be worse."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Everybody screamed.

"Ok!" Paul yelled back.

"MAN!" Ness said. "Every time somebody says that, the exact thing they DON'T want to happen happens!"

"Anyways, what are we going to do?" Yoshi asked, "We're kinda screwed if we can't get there in time."

"Should I wish for the Gummi Ship to go faster, or warp it there?" Kirby asked.

"No, you said it yourself, Kirby." Link said, "We can't use that kind of power every five seconds. What would it prove?"

"It would prove us lazy and incompetent." Kirby replied.

"It's a good idea, but I have a feeling we'll make it there when we're needed the most." Ness said.

"I just hope you're right..." Dr. Mario said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ephraim nearly died laughing. He sat beneath the throne, and had to bite his fist until he drew blood to keep from cracking up.

Up above him the floor shook with the angry marching about of GUN soldiers looking for him. He'd vanished without a trace, and the guard was still recovering. (They wondered why 'soulless beasts' didn't kill him.)

Erika approached him, holding the torch in her left hand. She tapped him gently on the shoulder, and motioned to go down the stairs into the secret room. Ephraim agreed: he'd had enough fun. They walked down the staircase as quietly as possible, and when they entered the small room at the bottom, they stopped and leaned up against the walls.

It was as big as a small bedroom, as far as Castles go. You could fit six beds inside and still have enough room to walk around.

What the room contained, however, was really important. The last Sacred Stone sat on the pedestal, and contained within was the Demon King's soul. To the sides, there were two other pedestals, and upon them sat Renais' Sacred Twins, Sigmund and Sieglinde. Sigmund, Ephraim's spear, was imbued with the might of fire, and Erika's Sieglinde imbued with lightning. They were powerful holy weapons created to combat the Demon King, and his armies of the Undead. The weapons had much might, but against the undead they were peerless.

The first time Ephraim fought the Demon King, he took him down with just four blows.

The stone sat on the pedestal, and cast an eerie red light throughout the room. It was perfectly safe...as long as the stone didn't shatter.

"...I forgot HE was here." Ephraim shrugged, gesturing at the stone, which seemed to glow bright with malevolent energy. "I'm not scared you, doofus. Shut up and quit shining at me."

At this the stone shone even brighter.

"Just ignore it, Ephraim." Erika said. "If you really want to annoy him...Hey, Demon King! You make a good lamp."

The Sacred Stone lit up the room even more.

"That's better." Erika sighed contentedly.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"We're just about there." Fox alerted the team. "Crazy, if you will, land in the woods near Renais Castle. We need to get in there without being seen."

"Aye Aye!" Crazy replied. "Now, you crazy peeps get going and prepare yourselves. I'll handle this."

"We're counting on you!" Matt said, giving Crazy a thumbs up, which he returned.

While the team equipped their armor and weapons and managed their supplies, Crazy brought the space ship in really low, navigated through the valleys of a few mountains, and when Renais Castle was in sight from above a large forest, Crazy sank down and set the ship on the ground. The forest stood as a barrier between GUN, and the smashers. So far, everything was working.

"Good luck, guys." Crazy whispered from the ship's speakers, "You guys go and get your pals back! I'll just play minesweeper until ya get back."

"Minesweeper!?" Eliwood gasped, "Dude, just where do you think you're getting off, playing with explosives at a time like this!?"

"...It's a computer game." Ness sighed.

"...Oh." Eliwood said.

"Don't sweat it." Crazy said, "Just get your butts outta here! Now YOU guys are the ones wasting time!"

"Ok! We're going." Luigi said, "You be careful now!"

"Shh!" Crazy said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few minutes of walking got them out of the woods, and closer to the castle. The castle, though, was a busy beehive of activity.

"...They look like they're in a state of confusion." Link announced, from behind the cover of a tree. "...Did something happen?"

"I suppose." Luigi muttered.

"This is just a hunch, but now is probably the best time we could attack. Whatever happened isn't going to happen again." Ness said.

"C'mon. Let's tear on through this place and get away with them twin bumpkins!" Bowser said, pumping his right fist into his left palm.

"They are as much a bumpkin as you are, Bowser." Paul said, "If you're the King of Koopas, and you're a bumpkin, then that makes us all bumpkins!"

"And that makes you the King-of-Foot-in-mouth." Dr. Mario said.

"He he! Feet in mouth!" Roy giggled for no reason.

"Ok, shush." Link whispered. He dived behind the tree and peeked through the grass near the tree's roots. Everybody else vanished as well. Just in time. When Link said 'shush', a soldier walked into view. He walked around the area for a bit, and apparently decided the next place to check would be the woods...

He walked right in, and didn't walk out.

Instead, the smashers burst forth from the woods like a massive mob of lunatics, and dashed towards the castle while yelling maniacally.

GUN soldiers spotted them, but they were in disarray, so they got into even more of a mess as they tried to get into a battle position. The smashers fell on them and scattered them like trash, blowing their way right into Renais castle without being slowed down.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The twins heard the noise, and all of the yelling.

"That doesn't sound like GUN." Erika said, standing up.

"Yeah, I think I've heard that noise before...Sorta." Ephraim said.

"...We're going to be saved!" Erika shouted jubilantly, "I can hear Yoshi!"

"And Bowser too." Ephraim said. "I can't tell anybody else from the noise, though. We better get out!"

"Right behind you!" Erika said.

Ephraim ran up to the base on the statue, and the two teamed up to break the seal on the trap-door once again. With a good push, the throne moved to the side, and the two twins sprung right into the middle of a giant brawl. They were surrounded by soldiers, who had no clue what was happening, and were even more surprised when the throne slid aside to reveal two fully armed people-who-ought-to-be-executed-by-now.

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE!?" One of the soldiers screamed.

CONK!

"We're escaping!" Ephraim shouted, "HA HA! Stop us if you can!" After he said that, the whirled and kicked the throne back into place, sealing it back up. He brandished Sigmund, and then started knocking his foes about in a frenzy, sending them flying all over the place.

"Well, I guess we DID get lucky, after all!" Luigi chuckled.

"We still need to get them out!" Dr. Mario shouted. He pulled out some shock pads, and started boxing any nearby enemies, shocking them with lightning.

"Watch THIS!" Erika shouted, "NIGHTHAWK!"

She held her raipier up above her head, then slashed it forwards. A purple jet of light appeared, and struck the ground diagonally, causing a shockwave. The soldiers hit by it were shocked by the sword's thunder powers, and knocked out.

"Wow, when did you learn THAT?" Ephraim asked while Erika shot more shockwaves from the sky.

"While you were busy swinging your wooden pole around and breaking my things, I was busy studying new techniques from some books." Erika replied.

"...Oh."

"Didn't YOU learn anything new?" Erika asked innocently.

"...No." Ephraim answered in a defeated tone.

"That's what you get for not studying!" Erika said. The fight closed in on them even tighter, and she was forced to fight back to back with her brother. "Thank heavens we're finished with school, or I'd be doing your homework, too!"

"Hey! I don't hate studying THAT much!" Ephraim retorted, "I was going stir crazy, ok!? How can you expect me to calmly sit and read a book!?"

"Ha ha!" Erika giggled, "I'm just picking on you!"

"Grr..." Ephraim seemed to fuel his attacks with his frustration, and with a few moment's effort, started giving them enough breathing space again.

The smashers got closer and closer to the twins, but there seemed to be no end of the soldiers. They flooded into the castle like water, a never-ending torrent.

Link knocked out the soldiers between himself and the twins with a shield bash attack, and the twins quickly jumped into the group. The smashers then fought their way out, towards the front of the castle. When they reached the main hall, Ness faced the front and the rest of the smashers held the soldiers back from the rear.

"PK ROCKIN!" Ness yelled. He charged his energy, and sent out a powerful storm of colored orbs, which knocked the soldiers out with ease. Ness cleared the hallway out, and then the team made a dash for the entrance.

Now that they had enough space to attack without shooting themselves, the soldiers drew their guns and started shooting like mad at the retreating smashers. Paul cast Protect and created an impenetrable wall, and the bullets clattered against it like angry hornets. Now that the path was clear, they ran outside the castle as fast as they possibly could. GUN reinforcements started appearing on both of the roads, and when they saw the smashers retreating, they started running for them.

They had snipers, too.

Bullets slammed into the dirt around the team as the retreated, and by the time they were halfway to the woods, the soldiers started coming out of the castle. They were surrounded, with the only way of escape on the other side of the woods.

"HASTEGA!" Paul shouted. The team sped up, and shot towards the woods at high speed. The snipers kept shooting, but they got less and less accurate as they lost distance. The squad from the castle was still out of range, and had no chance of catching up.

Link leapt into the woods, and everybody else quickly followed after him. He swerved and dodged the vegetation, literally blazing a trail for the others to follow.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The smashers were long gone into the woods, and out of sight before the army reached them. They stopped at the beginning of the woods, and looked in warily.

"...You go in first." one of the commanders said to the other.

"No, YOU go in first!" He countered.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The smashers burst from the woods, and ran up to the Gummi ship.

"CRAZY! LET US IN!" Matt shouted frantically.

"Hold on a second...I wanna finish this one game of Minesweeper." Crazy said sounding focused.

"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAZY!! GUN'S GONNA GET US IF YOU DON'T LET US IN NOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!" Link bawled.

"Whoa! Gotta let ya in then!" Crazy exclaimed. The door opened up...right on top of Link. Everybody but Bowser and Matt dashed in, and the two guys left behind picked the door up enough to pull a dazed hylian warrior out from underneath. They then retreated inside, and Crazy shut the door. Finally, everybody was safe.

Crazy raised the ship up into the sky, and the team shot off at high speed, leaving GUN behind in the dust. Big time.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Five minutes later, after the escape...

"You go in! I told you to first!" The first commander yelled.

"NO! YOU go in first!" The other shouted.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Well, sorry about the lack of action. I wasn't about to compose a whole 'nother giant battle scene. This chapter was more for humorous purposes, and for getting Ephraim and Erika rescued. This arc isn't finished yet, though. There's more.**

**Keep tuned in, everybody! I'll be back soon! (This chapter took awhile...i was getting lazy and didn't exactly feel like working on it all that much, hence the slower update.)**

**Thank you all for reading!**

**Now, Answers and Questions (I think it was you, right?) Asked me a good question. I should have told all of you this sometime before, but in this story, Roy's mother and Eliwood's wife, is Ninian. **

**Funny thing is, I now have reason to suspect that Ninian is not actually full-blooded dragon, but in fact half! If that's the case, Roy is ¼ dragon. If Ninian really were half-dragon...then you people wouldn't BELIEVE who her dad is. (Whoa, when I found this out...DANG! I was shocked.)**

**You people will find out someday. I promise. (It's gonna be important later. WHE HE HE!)**

**And another question ya asked me! Yes, there will be tougher baddies they end up fighting. (I thought there was something missing from this, so far. I don't mind answering questions like this. If ya have anything else ya wanna ask, I'd love answering it! ((As long as I don't spoil anything)))**

**Sorry about the lack of big boss battles, but this story is taking a far different approach than my last story, Supremacy. Two great stories, different formulas.**

**Now, again, thank all of you for reading! I'll be back soon, so don't go away!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	47. Mystery In Grado

He he

**He he! Last chappy was a success! Thank you, everybody! I'm glad you're reading, and I appreciate the occasional review!**

**Now, I don't exactly have anything else to tell you people, other than these notes will be short!**

**This arc will most likely last two more chapters, and definitely no more than three if it comes to that. After that, comes a really big arc! Heh heh...It's also very important plotwise! Another thing I wanna say, is, Roy will be recovering sorta soon. It'll come faster than ya think!**

**Ok, time to get started! The Smashers aren't finished with Magvell yet!**

**"Why? What's keeping them there!?" Ya might be asking. Well, how's about you start reading and find out? Thanks, guys!**

**-Chapter XXXXVII-**

**-Mystery in Grado-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Wow, that's just...Funny." Ness said, after hearing the twin's tale of escape.

"Yeah." Erika agreed, "You owe me roughly five hundred smash coins for that vase, by the way, brother."

"Can't you just forget about the stupid vase?" Ephraim sighed with exasperation.

"Oh, yes. Before I forget, you also owe me a thousand for the rug, and another fifteen hundred for the mirror you broke."

"That was my mirror!"

"But I bought it." Erika said.

"GRAH!" Ephraim shouted.

"Cut him a break, Erika." Dr. Mario said, "You two just escaped with your lives and all."

"I know, I was just teasing him..." Erika winked, "...But he still owes me fifteen hundred for the vase and the rug."

"Alright, that's enough." Matt chuckled.

"So...I guess your captivity was better than Eliwood's, Lyn's and Lilina's, by the sound of it." Link said.

"Yeah, we were stuck in some grimy jail cells." Eliwood grimaced, "It could have been worse, though. Lilina used a bit of magic to clean the cell."

"I couldn't clean everything!" Lilina said, "It was just too dirty!"

"I didn't know Ostia's cells were so filthy." Lyn said.

"It's because Hector never used them." Eliwood said, "He dealt with criminals different ways than that, so he had no need for the cells, and hence they just sat there and collected dust."

"I wish I knew where my father was." Lilina sighed.

"Don't worry. We'll find him!" Yoshi assured her.

"...Ok, Crazy, find the Halberd." Fox ordered. He was in full pilot mode, and was now flying the ship.

"Gimme a second." Crazy said, "I'll find the Halberd! Whatcha gonna do there?"

"We need to drop everybody off." Fox said, "The Halberd is our unofficial base now, wouldn't you say so, Matt?"

"Yeah, we need to go to the Halberd." Matt agreed.

"No! I want to stay with you!" Lyn said.

"What we're doing is too dangerous for any of you." Link said, "We can't risk getting you all involved. Besides, you all need to recover: it's not like you were staying in a park the whole time. You need to recuperate."

"...But, we're supposed to help!" Ephraim said, "I mean, come on! That's why you busted us loose, right?"

"We busted you loose so you wouldn't die." Link said, "I meant it when I said I didn't want anybody else involved. There is something really odd happening, and until my crew and I discover what that is, you're going to stay on the Halberd and do missions for Meta Knight."

"...I'll fight you, and we'll decide who does what." Ephraim said, "If I win, I get to stay with you-"

"And if you lose you'll do as you're told." Link said, standing up and looking Ephraim in the face.

"Oooh, hostilities!" Crazy and Roy echoed each other simultaneously.

"...Er, AHEM." Crazy said, "Fox? I found the Halberd. It's way south, and pretty close to Hyrule."

"...Right." Fox replied, slightly uneasy.

"...We duel on the Battlefield." Link said. "One stock, no items, no restrictions. Give me your best, because if you can't beat me, you won't be safe on this team."

"Understood." Ephraim replied.

"Ok, Matt. You know what to do." Link said to the genius.

"Righto." Matt said. He hurried about, and started setting up the stage and the rules.

"Beam them up, Scotty!" Roy giggled.

"Roy!" Bowser whispered, "Shut up!"

Roy decided it would be funny to slap Bowser upside the face, so he did so.

"Little cretin." Bowser growled, "If your daddy wasn't here, I'd cream you."

"Like whipped cream?" Roy asked innocently, "I want some whipped cream!"

"I ate the last bit back in Pherae." Kirby apologized.

"Pichu!" Pichu squealed.

"Oh, yeah!" Kirby said, "Ya wanna talk?"

"Pi? PICHU!" Pichu squeaked eagerly.

"Here ya go, pipsqueak." Kirby said. He waved the wand over Pichu, who flashed with a bit of light.

"Pipsqueak? PIPSQUEAK!?" Pichu shrieked in a high pitched voice, "I'll show ya pipsqueak! I'll roast ya till Roy mistakes you for a campfire marshmallow!"

"Finished." Matt said.

"Good" Ephraim said. Link stayed silent.

The hologram projector activated and aimed the laser at the two fighters, and scanned them before quickly retracting itself and swapping for another laser, which took them into the hologram machine. Then, after it did that, the windshield projected the Battlefield.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link and Ephraim dropped down onto the stage from the rebirth pads, and they charged at each other to start the battle.

Ephraim attacked Link first. He stabbed at Link with his spear, but Link deflected the attack with his shield and countered with a downwards slash towards Eph's legs. Eph jumped and held his spear down, prepared to impale Link from above with his Jump attack. Link back-rolled out of the way, and shot an arrow. The prince fired a wind spike that destroyed the arrow and headed towards Link. He countered with Nayru's love, and Eph was surprised and hit by his own air render attack. Link pursued him, and him with a Finishing Blow attack.

The hit sent Ephraim flying into the air, pretty high. Link was hitting really hard. While up there, Eph threw his spear, and it clattered against the ground when it missed the hylian. Eph landed on his feet and ducked under a fierce attack, and resummoned his spear, Sigmund. He blocked another of Link's attacks, then countered and knocked him back in a cloud of flame. Eph then ran after Link and jumped into the air again, and was covered in a hot, fiery aura.

"BACKDRAFT!" Ephraim cried. He landed an extremely powerful blow on Link that caught him on fire, and sent him flying off the stage. The attack was so powerful, Ephraim damaged himself with the heat.

Link recovered by shooting his Clawshot at the edge, and he quickly drew in the chain and shot over the stage. He drew a mess of arrows from his quiver, and fired them all at Ephraim. A few of the arrows hit him, and while he was busy dodging, Link made a bomb arrow and fired it. Ephraim was caught in the explosion, and tossed off the stage with high damage. He recovered by shooting a jet of flame downwards and shooting up into the air, and he landed neatly on the edge of the stage.

Link tossed his boomerang and then ran a few feet behind it. Ephraim blocked the boomerang and dodged a slash from Link, then grabbed him and tossed him over the side. Link came back up to the edge with his Spin attack, and hit Eph with the ending slash, sending him across the stage and near the other edge, where he landed on his back. Link dashed towards him again, and Eph rolled towards him to attack.

Link used his Spin attack again, and Eph ran right into it. The attack was so powerful, he went flying, and exploded out of bounds.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The hologram machine fired the laser once again, and the two smashers reappeared.

Link looked as blank-faced as ever, but Ephraim hung his head in defeat.

"...Ya know..." Link turned to face him, and cracked a slight smile, "That backdraft attack really hurt."

"I still lost." Ephraim sighed. He picked his head up and tried grinning back at Link, but his face fell. "I'll just sit down and get out of your way. I'm obviously not ready for anything yet."

"You did good." Link assured him, "But in the end it just wasn't enough. You almost had me. Go and recover, train, learn a few new attacks if you must, then I'm sure you'll be ready."

"I hope so." Ephraim said, "I might go crazy with nothing to do."

"I'll make sure he practices, and learns something new." Erika told Link, "I'll train with you, Eph. That sound ok?"

"Anything sounds ok to me now."

"Wanna eat a lollipop with a grasshopper inside?" Kirby asked.

"FUDGEMUFFINS, No!" Ephraim swore. Kirby cracked up and rolled out of his chair, then completely lost it and rolled around the crowded cockpit, laughing like a moron. Roy joined him, and rolled around on the floor, too.

"Anyways..." Crazy, time to head for the Halberd." Fox said. While the team was watching the fight, the ship parked in midair, and didn't go anywhere.

"Okey dokey." Crazy said. He started the ship, and headed south, towards Hyrule. It was still many miles away, and would take them at least two days to fly there.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was early the next morning, when Ness jerked awake in his bed. Near him, Paul did the same, and they sensed each other awaken.

"...You sensed that, right?" Ness asked.

"Yeah, I sure did." Paul said, "That energy felt familiar."

"Familiar!?' Ness nearly shouted, "I'd recognize that energy signature anywhere! We have to tell Fox and Matt now!"

"Meet you up there." Paul said, dashing out of the small room. Ness fumbled about in the semi-darkness for his hat, and when he grabbed it, he dashed from the room and bolted up the staircase to the cockpit. He went through the small space, then popped up into the trapdoor that led inside the bubble-like room where Fox was.

"What's the hurry?" Fox yawned, "It's still early!"

"We sensed somebody's magic power." Ness said.

"And, they were in trouble." Paul added.

"Who was it?" Fox asked, wide awake now.

"It was Lyon!" Ness said. "He's back in Grado!"

"But we passed Grado last night!" Fox said, "It'd take us half a day just to fly back there!"

"Do it, now!" Paul said, "We have to find him or there won't be anybody left to find!"

"Ok, Crazy!" Fox said, "You heard them! Change destination to Grado! Can you two tell me where you sensed him?"

"I think he was in the southeast of Grado, yeah, he's kinda close to Grado Keep, and few miles west of it." Ness answered.

"Ok, Crazy, do your stuff." Fox said. "Get us there as fast as you can. I'm going to tell Link and the others." After saying that, Fox ran from the room, and Ness and Paul took their seats.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few minutes later, and everybody was awake and alert. The Fire emblem crew stayed in the hold with Bowser, since there was no room in the cockpit for them.

In the cockpit, the speaker system was turned on inside the whole ship, so everybody could speak, no matter where they were.

"So, let me get this straight, Lyon's in Grado?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, and we think he's been attacked." Ness said, while Paul nodded his agreement.

"Fox, we're half a day away from Grado, you say?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah, half a day. We won't be there until the afternoon." Fox confirmed.

"We have to rescue Lyon!" Erika pleaded.

"Oh course that's what we're doing." Yoshi said.

"I suggest we eat, sleep, and rest up until we reach there." Kirby said, "It's no use fighting on a low battery and an empty gut."

"Yeah, you and your ginormous gut." Pichu snickered.

"Shut up." Kirby said, before he slapped Pichu with his star rod. She lost her voice, and couldn't say anything. "I only silenced you. You'll get your voice back soon."

Pichu zapped the crap out of him, and fried him.

"Kirby's right." Matt said. "I'm sorry we got all of you up, but we had to let you know. Go back to sleep, or do something. We'll let you know as soon as we reach Grado."

"You better." Ephraim said, from below.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Around two 'o clock that afternoon, the Gummi ship landed in a swamp. It was really foggy outside, and the ground treacherous.

"Visibility's poor." Fox said, "We'll have to be extra careful. Can you two still sense Lyon?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's alive." Ness said. "I don't think he's in any danger right now, but it's a good thing we found him anyways."

"Da." Roy agreed in Russian.

"Dude, shut up." Pichu said.

"Silincio, estupido!" Roy countered.

"No, you shut up!" Pichu shouted.

"Fer me la beush!" Roy shouted back.

"What!?"

"Shut up!" Roy said.

"Grr..."

Pichu pounced at Roy, who stood there, obliviously running his hand through his hair. Yoshi's tongue snagged Pichu out of the air, and then an egg appeared behind him, sitting placidly upon the chair.

"Cut it out!" Matt said, "We're about to go rescue somebody! Could you PLEASE stop fooling about?!"

"Sorry." Yoshi replied shyly. The egg behind him shook angrily on the chair, and Roy drooled.

"C'mon, let's go and get Lyon back." Dr. Mario said, "We'll need all the help we can get, so I suggest taking everybody along."

"Agreed." Link said.

"...Do you think...there might be ghosts here?" Luigi asked apprehensively.

"Naw, worst you might see out here could be a zombie or two, or maybe even a floating eyeball." Matt replied casually as he walked past Luigi to exit the cockpit.

"I think I'm gonna hurl." Luigi sighed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The whole group stood outside the ship. Luigi looked dizzy, but it might have been fear-related nausea.

"Wow, it's even foggier than I expected." Bowser commented. "It's a surprise we can even see any light! I'd have thought it'd be dark down here."

"We're in the Za-Aubul Marsh." Ephraim explained, "I once had to duel one of Grado's generals here, back during the War of the Stones."

"Lyon sure did pick a funny place to be." Erika said, looking around.

"Any...natural hazards we need to watch out for?" Fox asked.

"No." Ephraim said, "Really, this is just a super foggy bit of Grado. The only thing that might happen is if you're not careful, you'll stumble and fall into a small river, there's a lot of them around here."

"Is that all?" Bowser chuckled, "C'mon, let's get g-WHOA!"

SPLOOSH!

Bowser had only taken one step, and splashed right into a little creek.

"Oops, musta landed to close to one of them rivers." Crazy mumbled apologetically.

"WHEE!" Roy jumped in after Bowser, and started splashing around a little.

"Get out of there, Roy." Eliwood moaned.

"Hey, Link." Matt said, "We ought to split up. I'd suggest that you and Bowser stay with everybody that we just rescued, and the rest of us can go as a team on our own, but of course you're free to do whatever."

"Naw, I like your idea." Link agreed, "Me and Bowser will go with you guys..." He said, waving his hand at the Fire Emblem crew, "...And then you guys just do whatever."

"Yay!" Kirby said.

"Thank goodness I'm not paired with you." Bowser sighed with relief. He was out of the creek now, and he also pulled Roy out. Roy, who was draped over Bowser's shoulder like a towel, amused himself with spit bubbles and more drooling. Eliwood looked over at his son with a comic expression of grief, and Lilina was having a hard time containing her laughter. Dr. Mario took the time to snap another picture of awesome black-mailing power, and then they split ways.

"Bowser! Watch out for the-" Lyn started shouting.

SPLOOSH!

"What would we do without Bowser?" Yoshi chuckled.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-Five minutes later on Link's side-

"No, no sign of Lyon around here." Eliwood said.

"You know what I noticed is funny?" Bowser asked Lyn.

"What?" She asked back.

"Lyon has the same name as you, if you remove the o from it." Bowser said.

"Ugh..." Erika sighed.

"Bowser?" Link said, "You might want to-"

SPLOOSH!

"...Stop..." Link said.

"Thanks for warning me." Bowser retorted in a sarcastic tone. He picked himself up and stomped out of the running water, and shook himself dry before running after the rest of the party.

"Still no sign of Lyon." Lilina said.

"Maybe we should fan out." Ephraim suggested.

"I think that will work. Link said. "Keep in sight of everybody else, we don't want to waste time looking for more people than we need to."

"I'm not gonna fall in any more water." Bowser mumbled to himself. He walked carefully, and looked at every single bit of ground he stepped on.

He did this for about a minute, and then stepped on another bit of land that looked the same as everything else...

And, of course, fell through the thin ground into a used-to-be underground river.

"...Hey, where'd Bowser go?" Lyn asked suddenly.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I still don't see anything." Matt said, "And my fire Chaos shots aren't clearing the fog any. There's too much of it."

"Yeah, having my butt get burned isn't helping any either." Paul retorted.

"I can't see anything." Fox said, frustrated.

"Me either!" Pichu said.

"What can we do?" Yoshi wondered.

"We'll have to brave the fog." Dr. Mario said, "We don't have anything to aid us, and fire doesn't help..."

"I'd inhale it if I could..." Kirby said.

"Hey, that kinda just gave me an idea." Paul said, "Kirby, swallow this!"

After saying that, Paul shot a wind blade at Kirby, and he swallowed it to gain the Tornado ability.

"Ok...Whatcha need me to do?" Kirby asked, getting the gist of Paul's idea.

"We have to try blowing the wind away." Paul said.

"I could use my dark powered wind grenade!" Matt suggested happily.

"I'd prefer not getting blown to the moon." Fox said.

"Oh, yeah, forgot about that." Matt grimaced.

"Alright, ready, Kirby?" Paul asked.

"Yeah." Kirby replied. "Let's go!" He started spinning really fast, and the fog started swirling in towards him. When it hit him, it turned into a focused cloud of fog above his head.

"Ok, not how I figured it would work, but this'll do." Paul said, "Shoot fire at the fog cloud Kirby creates and evaporate it!"

"Can do!" Matt said. He fired a ton of fire bullets into the cloud, and Yoshi breathed fire on it using the power of the fire flower in his gut. Luigi and Pichu tried shooting lightning through it, and Paul and Fox shot fireballs through it.

The fog around them cleared a little, and while they kept evaporating the fog they moved forwards. A full two minutes of this yielded no results, and Kirby stopped spinning to retch on the ground.

"Ooh, I can't stand." He moaned, his eyes all swirly. He fell over and plopped on his back, and lay still.

"...This isn't getting us anywhere." Fox panted, "I'm running out of magic power."

"I'm going to use my wind grenade, then." Matt said, "You guys dig a hole and get inside, and we'll stand inside it. I'll shoot the grenade into the air, and then you know what happens next.

"Fine, if we must." Fox said, "Dig the hole ten feet deep, I don't want to visit the moon yet."

"Aye aye..." Kirby said. He tapped himself with the star rod and cured his dizziness, then granted himself with the Animal ability. He wore an outfit that looked like...a rodent with claws. He quickly started digging into the ground and sending dirt flying everywhere, and was already ten feet down after only two seconds. He had the hole cleared out in another twenty seconds, and everybody hopped in.

"I hope this works." Matt winced, as he charged up the energy. A ball of super compressed wind collected on the end of his mecha arm's grenade launcher barrel, and then he turned dark as he summoned up his dark energy. The wind grenade quickly grew in size, and when it was the size of a beach ball, he prepared to release it.

"Are you insane!?" Fox shouted, "The last time you did this, the dark wind grenade was only the size of a softball! Scratch getting blown to the moon! At this rate we'll be visiting another galaxy!"

"Reeeelaaax." Matt said, in a cool dude voice, "Just sit back at watch the show."

"I have a bad feeling about this." Luigi squeaked.

Matt released the grenade, and it shot way up into the fog, and vanished. They waited five seconds for it to explode, but nothing happened.

"...It was worth a shot." Matt chuckled nervously.

And then it exploded.

A gigantic wall of wind shot down, and slammed against the ground so hard the team was instantly buried. The wind explosion tore across the ground like an unstoppable gale of death, and uprooted trees, relocated rivers, and ultimately blew the fog away.

The pile of dirt shook, and eight heads popped up.

"Well, it worked." Ness managed to say.

"...DANG." Kirby said, wide eyed.

"BANG is more like it." Pichu said. She dug herself out completely, and shook the soil off her fur, and started licking herself clean.

"Fox, I'm going to follow your advice, and I will never use that attack again unless I have to." Matt replied. By now, everybody was digging themselves out and dusting each other off.

"Thank you!" Fox said as he pulled clods of dirt out of his ears.

Suddenly, all of the fog rushed back in, once again obscuring their view.

"...This sucks." Yoshi said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Bowser? Bowser!" Link called out, but to no avail. The team spread out and was now looking for Bowser instead of Lyon, but the search proved futile. Bowser was nowhere to be seen. "Any luck?"

"No, none!" Lilina called back.

"Want us to keep looking?" Ephraim asked.

"DUH!" Erika shouted. Link couldn't see them because they were too far away, but apparently, Eliwood could, and he was cracking up. There was a thud noise, and Ephraim yelled in pain.

"THAT WAS MY FOOT YOU STOMPED ON!" He yowled.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"...Ptooey!" Bowser said. He spat out a fish, and scratched his head while thinking, "How I the hey did I get here?"

He was underground, and his back was to a small waterfall. The waterfall, which was Bowser's mode of entrance, fell down into a channel in the ground, and then into a grate nearby.

A look around in the dark told Bowser many things. One: He couldn't see very well. Two: it looked like he was in some sort of ruins. Three: Quite obviously, he was underground.

"...This place kinda reminds me of that weird temple with the spider in it." Bowser thought out loud. He got up off his duff, and walked around, taking in as much as he could. After a minute of looking around, he breathed fire and used it as a torch.

Yeah, the ruins looked a lot like the ruins in Mush Mush Marsh.

"This just isn't right." Bowser decided. Suddenly, the ground started shaking, and Bowser lost his balance and fell back into the water. He came back up, spluttering angrily.

"I really hate water right now!" He complained. "...I want coffee."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When the earth stopped shaking, Link and co. got up off the ground.

"What the heck was that?" Link asked.

"Grado frequently has earthquakes." Ephraim said, just as the wind picked up and blew the fog away, "Wow, what just happened?"

"Dunno, but I can see now." Lyn said.

"Wait." Link said. He looked at a big hole in the ground a couple of yards away. It was big. Big enough for Bowser to fall in. "I think that's where Bowser went." Link said.

"What is it?" Eliwood asked.

"It's a hole." Lilina said, "And there's running water in it.

"I've been wanting to try this for awhile." Link said. He waved his hand, and it glowed with magical energy. He waved it over his body, and was enveloped in a flash, and when it faded, he was dressed in his Zora Armor. "Zelda can do it." Link justified, "Why can't I?" He jumped into the hole afterwards, and let the current carry him away.

"...Dang." Ephraim said, "Do we follow?"

"Of course." Lyn said. She jumped in after Link, then Roy waddled over, sucking his thumb. He tripped and went into the hole headfirst, and then everybody else jumped in after him, one at a time.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So, what do we do now?" Ness asked. "I can't sense him, something is interfering with the energy around here."

"...It feels like..." Paul started saying, "...It feels like the ruins back in Mush Mush Marsh, and back in Angel Land. There's something powerful, and evil here."

"Don't tell me." Matt said, blanching, "It's another one of those elemental demons, isn't it?"

"I can feel it too." Yoshi said in a thoughtful tone, "I doesn't feel like the lightning demon though...This one is more calm, but even more powerful than either of the demons before."

"More powerful than that gigantic scorpion that killed Samus?" Dr. Mario asked in shock, "...We can't leave the demon here, but can we fight against it!?"

"We can fight against anything." Matt said seriously, exuding an aura of chaos energy, "We haven't been beaten yet, and that gives me reason to believe that we can handle it this time. I'm not backing down."

"I won't either!" Ness declared.

"I-I'll do my best too!" Luigi said with bravery.

"You're not leaving me outta anything." Paul said.

"Meh, I'll do what I can." Pichu said, "But I can't guarantee I'll be of help!"

"Bring it ON!" Kirby said in a macho tone."

"What else is new?" Fox wondered.

"...Let's go find this demon, then, and put an end to it." Dr. Mario said in a grave tone, "Once we beat it, you'll be able to sense Lyon?"

"That should be true." Ness said.

"Then I suppose we have little choice." Fox said, "It's a no go unless we dispose of this demon first."

"For starters, it's underground." Paul said, "...So...what do we do now?"

"...We find a way to get underground again." Matt said, "How? Maybe Kirby can dig again or something."

"I can use Dig too!" Pichu said, "It's not as good as Kirby's, but I can make tunnels!"

"Fine, I'll dig." Kirby said, "But you guys better cook me a really good dinner!"

"I'll take care of that." Luigi offered.

"What else can we do to get underground?" Fox asked.

"Hey!" Matt said suddenly, "Kirby and Pichu, you two dig a bunch of tunnels, and we'll use explosive attacks to blow the dirt away!"

"No, you are NOT using that grenade attack again!" Fox yelled.

"How about non-dark wind grenades?" Matt said, looking at Fox with a sour expression, "Look, I know what I said, and I'm not going back on my word."

"Ok, ok, just making sure." Fox sighed.

"Now, you two know what to do." Matt nodded towards Kirby and Pichu.

"Right!" They said, saluting.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Bowser just stood back up, when there was a yell, and Link popped out of the waterfall and landed right pop on his head.

"Oh, THERE you are, Bowser!" Link said. Bowser replied by picking him up and throwing him far away. Then everybody else popped out of the waterfall, and Bowser was buried beneath a mass of bodies and limbs.

"GAH!" Bowser shouted, "Gerroff, you dorks!"

"Dang, sorry Bowser." Ephraim apologized in a huff. When everybody was off, Bowser stood up and dusted himself, then closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Any idea where this is?" Lilina asked.

"It's daaaaaaaaaark!" Roy sobbed.

"Yes, it IS dark, Roy." Eliwood said, as calmly as possible. His son's pre-mature insanity was really starting to wear on him.

"Daddy!" Roy said. He grabbed his dad, and hugged him tight.

"...Awwwwkward." Link whistled.

"Roy! Let go!" Eliwood snapped, "This is no time to act like a child!"

"...Wha-Wha-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" Roy screamed.

"I give up." Eliwood said.

"Don't be so hard on him." Link suggested, "He's acting like a kid, so treat him like one...Uh...Even if it is awkward at times...heh..."

"Daddy!" Roy moaned, grabbing his dad again.

Eliwood looked at his son with a raised eyebrow, then back at Link. "I'll...try...This is too weird. I'm going to have Master Hand put me back in my own time after this...I think I'm going crazy too!"

"Ha ha." Bowser laughed, pointing his claws at the irritated noble.

"Anyways, it would appear that we're in some ruins." Lyn commented.

"Speaking of ruins, these look familiar." Link said, his face furrowed and thoughtful looking.

"Yeah, about that." Bowser said, "These ruins look like the ruins back in Mush Mush Marsh." When Link heard Bowser say that, he whipped around and faced him, his face white.

"What?" Erika asked.

"Yeah, what?" Ephraim repeated.

Link stood still and closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. He was obviously unsettled. "...It's a long story..."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CRACK!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Everybody screamed.

Kirby and Pichu dug the holes like Matt suggested, and when he blew apart the fifth hole, the whole ground caved in and created a giant hole. The team fell in, and crashed at the bottom of a large pit.

Pichu popped up from the dirt again, and shook herself to get the soil off once again. "Man, I'm getting tired of this." She commented.

"Blargh." Kirby responded, dizzy from a lump of earth smacking him on the head.

"We got somewhere." Matt said, trying to look on the bright side, "Now we need to find out WHERE we are."

"Underground." Paul said.

"Smooth, Captain Obvious." Ness replied sarcastically.

"Whuzzat?" Yoshi asked, pointing a hole in the side of the pit. Speaking of pit, the walls were made of stone blocks, and the hole was a gap in the ceiling of a large tower-like room, which the smashers were now at the bottom of. The opening Yoshi brought attention to was an arch in the wall, around ten feet tall.

"It's they way we're going to go." Dr. Mario said.

"It's the ONLY way we can go." Ness said.

"Then let's get going!" Pichu declared.

"...Dhoy..." Kirby moaned. Matt picked the star warrior up and put him on his metal shoulder, and the team walked into the hallway in the side of the wall.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"And that's all that has happened, up until now." Link concluded.

"...Samus is dead?" Erika asked sadly. Link nodded.

"So you're saying another one of those demons could be here, and just maybe Lyon's been attacked by it?" Lyn asked.

"It's a possibility." Bowser said seriously, "But we can't jump to conclusions. We have to find out first."

"I don't see any doors in here." Eliwood said.

"That's because it's blocked off." Link said, pointing at an arch shape on the wall that was filled in with stone wall. It looked like the same arch the other team encountered, but it was sealed.

"How do you know that's the door?" Ephraim asked.

"Like this." Link said, taking out a bomb. Before he could light the fuse, Ephraim grabbed his hand.

"Let me do this." Ephraim requested.

"Sure, be my guest." Link said, stepping aside. Ephraim stood in front of the arch and looked it up and down, then took a step back and leveled his spear with the wall. He punched a hole in the wall with a powerful thrust, then kicked the weakened wall down and revealed a passageway. "See? I told you it was the door. I see stuff like this all the time." Link said.

"I won't doubt you again." Ephraim said, "You sure know your stuff."

"...Let's go. Mystery awaits us." Lilina said.

"We need to rescue Lyon quick, and get out of here before something bad happens." Link said, "We can't afford to dawdle here and waste time."

"Don't worry, we'll be outta here in a jiffy." Bowser said, pumping his fists again. They all walked into the newly revealed passageway, and Roy continued to cling to his dad.

They were about to solve one of the mysteries of Grado's fate.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Cutting it short here, everybody. Thank all of you for reviewing, and see ya next time! It's 1:38 in the morning, I have to get to sleep. I hope you enjoyed reading this. I'll be back with an even more adventurous chapter next time, so like I say a whole lot now, I'll be back soon! Thank you for reading, everybody, and thank you again, all of you who reviewed! You guys rock!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	48. Earth Crypt

Ok, thank you, readers and reviewers, for deciding to read today

**Ok, thank you, readers and reviewers, for deciding to read today! Thank you again, all of you who reviewed.**

**Not much to say, 'cept I can't tell ya what element the demons are! I give extremely vague clues, so ya gotta pay attention to anything odd, and even the ordinary thingies! That includes the seemingly ordinary thingies, because you can't tell when those seemingly ordinary things are in fact EXTRAordinary.**

**Enough of ranting on my part. I don't want to bore you guys, so let's get started!**

**-Chapter XXXXVIII-**

**-Earth Crypt-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Kirby blubbered and shook his head back and forth to regain his senses, and when he got them back, he looked around the hallway from Matt's shoulder.

"This place is spooky." He said.

"And dark." Fox added.

"Who knows what kinds of things live down here." Dr. Mario said, "This place looks like it hasn't been opened in centuries, nay, millennia! What if there's a plague that is dormant, and we just released it?"

"Chill, Doctor." Matt said, "I doubt that is the case. Besides, if that is true, it is merely the least of our troubles. If there are demons lurking in here, we'd best keep an eye out for them."

"Yeah, you can fight the plague in your lab, assuming there is one." Yoshi said, "But these demons have to be fought as we come across them."

"I get what you mean." Dr. Mario replied, "Speaking of dark and stuff, we need some light."

"Ok!" Ness said enthusiastically, "PK FLASH!"

"NO! STOP!" Luigi yelled.

FWHOOSH!

The light faded, and everybody held their faces in agony.

"...I see stars." Pichu muttered vaguely.

"...We...can't expose ourselves to bright light when we've been in the dark..." Paul moaned, "What are you trying to do, blind us!?"

"Sorry." Ness said while he rubbed his eyes.

"Here, I have a better idea." Luigi said, "Thunderhand!"

He created a ball of blue lightning in his hand, and held it up.

"That works." Matt said, "Not too bright, and not too dim. Perfect. Can you keep it going?"

"Easily." Luigi said.

"Good, let's keep going." Fox said.

They kept walking down the tunnel, which slowly sloped downwards into the earth. The tunnel got wider and wider as they went down, and by the time they had been walking for five minutes the tunnel was as large as a train tunnel. Strange ivy grew along the walls, giving it a pleasant, if not somewhat odd, appearance.

"Wonder why there's plants down here." Yoshi said, "They usually don't grow in caves, do they?"

"Some can, but these plants shouldn't." Dr. Mario said, as they continued down the tunnel.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link's team was in a similar situation. The tunnels continually dwindled downwards, occasionally branching off to go in different directions.

"The more and more I look at this, the more it seems like a city of sorts." Eliwood said.

"Kinda odd place for a city, don'tcha think?" Bowser asked, looking around with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, kinda odd, but not impossible or anything." Link said, "But a city in the sky that's just as old, and much more lively? Now THAT's kinda crazy!"

"I can still remember that crazy story about how you, Mario, and Aika battled that dragon there." Lilina said.

"She didn't want to jump off the city." Link sighed.

"WHAT!?" Everybody screamed, "You jumped off a city thousands of feet in the air!?"

"What?" Link asked, "I used the teleporter. Nobody got hurt, and we had fun!"

"I don't mind heights, personally, but I can't see myself jumping off a cliff for the fun of it." Bowser said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

They tunnel Matt and co. were in slowly tapered off, and stopped at the beginning of a huge tunnel. It came down to the larger tunnel diagonally.

When they stepped out of the small path into the larger tunnel, they stood on a balcony in a huge water tunnel. Below, a large, swift current ran down the tunnel, where large, ornate arches held the ceiling up high above. The water barely rippled, and flowed along silently. There was a pleasant coolness to the room, and more ivy and plants flourished in there. The room was about a two hundred feet across, and it was so long, it was impossible to see the end. It tilted downwards, more than the tunnel the team just came out of.

"So much water!" Kirby gasped, "Where does it all come from?"

"This place is really nice...Hard to imagine there might be something bad in here." Yoshi said as he looked about.

"...Matt, shoot a chaos bullet into the water." Paul suggested, "We might be able to see how deep this water is."

"Good idea." Matt said. He looked right over the edge of the balcony, which wasn't much of a balcony because the water flowed right beneath it, touching the edges of it, high enough to stick a hand in. Matt fired a glowing green bullet into the water, and it took a fourth of a second for it to hit something solid. "It's probably twenty feet deep. Can anybody NOT swim?"

"No, we can all swim." Ness said, "...Right?"

"I might need some help." Pichu said, "I can float, but that's about it. See these stubby little stumps?" She said, waving her arms and legs, "They can't do much, and are pretty useless."

"I'll carry you." Yoshi said.

"Why do you want to know if we can swim?" Fox wondered.

"See that tunnel?" Matt asked, pointing down the long waterway, "You don't make a tunnel like that just to drop it into a bottomless pit. I'm positive it goes somewhere."

"Just so you know, it's going to be heck and a half getting back." Fox said, "Other than that, I'm in!"

"So, we just jump in, then?" Dr. Mario asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Matt said, "Ok, jump on three, everybody!"

"One...two...THREE!!" Matt yelled.

They jumped right into the water, and the current was so strong, it instantly whisked them down the tube. It was impossible to tell the water was moving so fast, it was so calm.

"HOLY CRAP!" Fox shouted, "IT"S ICE COLD!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!!" Luigi screamed, hugging himself to keep warm.

Paul started glowing, then a fiery aura appeared around him, warming up the water and making steam.

"Oh, I get what you're doing!" Fox said, "Fire Fox!"

"HHHNG!" Matt grunted. His body was enveloped in a red cloud of chaos energy, and with all three guys exuding a fiery aura, the water warmed up decently.

"Dang, now we can't see, though." Kirby said.

"Stupid fog." Pichu mumbled.

They drifted along the waterway for a few minutes, getting carried through twists and turns. They formed a chain and held onto each other, so as to not get separated.

"...So, now what?" Luigi asked.

"We wait until something interesting happens, I suppose." Ness said.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"...I thought you said this would be easy!" Bowser moaned.

The team climbed down a wall by using the ivy as a foothold, and they were climbing down what looked like a well. They found the 'well' in a room where a bunch of rotted wood was the only remaining hint of occupation in the room. There was what seemed to be a bed, and a table, but they had fallen apart and lay in sodden splinters everywhere. The air was damp, and that was a hint that there was running water somewhere.

And so Link went down the well.

"This is fuuuuuuuuun." Roy drawled.

"It's cold..." Lyn said, shivering.

"That's because you're hardly wearing anything!" Lilina blurted.

"I'd like you to say that to my face again, when I'll have the chance to kick your butt around." Lyn snarled, "But right now I'm kinda busy trying to not fall to my death!"

"Hey, Link?" Ephraim asked, "Just how far have we gone down, exactly?"

"Dunno, a good couple hundred feet." Link said.

"Isn't that enough?" Erika asked, "My arms are starting to wear out. I'm afraid I might fall off."

"Chicken." Ephraim snickered.

"Jerk!" Erika yelled, kicking him in the shin.

"My leg!" He yelled in pain.

"That's enough, you two." Eliwood said.

Bowser, who was also moving down, happened to be above everybody when his foot slipped.

"Whoa!" He yelled. He tried to regain his footing on the vines, but he kicked them and sliced them, sending everybody else plummeting!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" Everybody screamed.

"OH NO!" Bowser shouted. He tried to get back on the vines, but before he could balance out his weight again, the vines he was clinging to ripped and dumped him into the depths below. He tried looking to see the bottom, but the damp, icy air made his eyes water, and everything became a blur.

Suddenly, he sensed open space all around him, and just a second afterwards he smacked into freezing cold water in a full-belly flop that winded him. When he surfaced, he grabbed his stomach in agony.

"MY GUT!" He screamed hoarsely.

"MY BUTT!" Roy cried.

"...A-a li-little h-hel, p-please?" Lyn stuttered. She was already starting to look a little blue, and she was shivering uncontrollably.

Bowser flipped over, and floated on his back.

"It's a giant sluice!" Link said. He was still in his Zora armor, so the water was no problem for him.

"I see now." Eliwood said, "They lowered a bucket from the well, and it went into this sluice here. Genius."

"This has to be a city of some sort." Ephraim said. He swam alongside his sister, and helped keep her above the water. When everybody looked at her questioningly, she answered, "I can't swim."

"HELP!" Lyn screamed. Link swam over to her and made her climb on his back. "...Thanks."

"No problem." Link replied, "The only thing we can do now is go where the water's going."

"Without freezing to death." Eliwood added, while Roy floundered about, holding his butt and thrashing about in the water nearby, "I wonder where this sluice leads to?"

"No telling, we'll just have to go along with it." Ephraim sighed.

"Uh oh." Bowser said.

"What?" Lilina asked.

She was answered when the sluice started tilting down, and the water, and with it the smashers, started picking up speed.

"Oh crap!" Link said, "Stay close!" Everybody swam together and grabbed each other, and then the water suddenly spilled out into nothingness. They flew out of the waterfall, and out into the open space.

The ground suddenly rushed up to them, and most everybody righted themselves and landed on their feet. Bowser smashed into the ground on his back, and he lay there, unmoving.

"...Ouch." He said, after about a minute.

"Ow is right." Link hissed, rubbing his legs, "My feet hurt like crazy!"

"You're not the only one." Erika responded.

They sat there for awhile and nursed their wounds, which Lilina helped fix by using a heal staff she had. After a few minutes everybody was up and exercising their sore legs to get them back to full use. Bowser, after being healed, lay where he was, and didn't move.

Truth be told, he was comfy, laying on his back...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

There was a whistling noise, and eight people came shooting over the waterfall. They landed on top of Bowser, who was instantly buried by the force of their landing.

"Oh! You guys are here too!" Link said, all smiles.

"...RAAAAAH!!" Bowser bellowed. He pushed himself up out of the hole he was in, and held the whole group up above his head, and with a mighty heave, tossed them away. "That's for landing on me!" Bowser shouted angrily.

"Ow, my head." Ness said.

"Help!" Pichu squeaked, "I'm being crushed!"

After a few more minutes of healing and recovering, the team looked around to observe their new surroundings.

They were inside what looked like a massive courtyard. The waterfall fell into another channel, which split to go around a square shaped center platform, which the smashers were standing on. The moat ran around the platform and dropped down into another sluice on the opposite side of the room, directly across from their mode of entrance. The room itself was as large as five indoor basketball courts, including the area the bleachers took up. Simply put, the room was freaking massive. There was more ivy, and a few other plants that flourished all over the place.

"...Whoa, grapes!" Yoshi shouted suddenly. He ran over to the vine in question, which was wrapped around a pillar. The vine was covered in juicy clusters of grapes.

Yoshi's eyes were glazed over, and before he got too far, Matt's metal arm extended and seized his tail.

"Don't eat those." Matt said seriously, "They might have poison in them. I'm not even sure if they're grapes."

"They look so delicious..." Yoshi moaned, with a rapturous smile on his face.

Kirby was also about to run at the grapes, but Bowser grabbed him and held him in a bear hug.

"Lemme go!" Kirby yelled, squirming.

"Not until you promise not to touch the weird fruit." Bowser said.

"Never!" Kirby declared.

"Then you get to stay right here!" Bowser said, while squeezing Kirby so tight his eyes bugged out a little. While Matt and Bowser busied themselves with restraining the two voracious food eaters, Dr. Mario walked over to the plant with a frown on his face.

He examined the plat for a minute or two, and when he was finished looking at the leaves, he plucked a fruit and held it up close to his eye.

"...What?" Link said, "It's just a grape. What's so interesting about it?" Dr. Mario replied by tossing Link the small round fruit. Link shrugged and held it up to his eye, and then gasped. "What the heck? It's glowing! What is this!?" Link asked.

"Here! Let me see!" Erika asked. Link tossed her the grape...thing, and she too looked at it closely.

"Want to know what that is?" Dr. Mario asked, wearing a really smug look.

"Yeah, what is it?" Fox asked, who was now looking at the glowing grape.

"It's a Magi Berry." Dr. Mario explained, "A mythical fruit thought to be all but extinct. It contains tremendous raw magical energy. However, eating it in its current state wouldn't do much, other than boost your energy, strength, and stamina."

"Seriously?" Luigi asked, "That's incredible!"

"The fact that these berries are growing here means that this place is incredibly fertile." Dr. Mario commented, "And full of energy. A Magi plant hasn't been seen in centuries."

"And yet these plants have been here for forever, protected by this...underground city." Ness said, "We got lucky, stumbling into this place!"

"I could unlock the power of these berries." Dr. Mario said, "And make some incredible medicine."

"Like, what medicine?" Ephraim asked.

"Raw magical power?" Dr. Mario said, "I could distill and concentrate the energy of these berries, and mix the dew with a few other ingredients to make the most powerful medicine in the world."

"It would cure any disease ever!?" Eliwood shouted, "Incredible! Would it restore Roy's sanity?"

"Unfortunately, no." Dr. Mario said, "Indeed it will cure any illness, but it would also unlock that person's true potential. And even if they don't have any potential, this medicine would imbue them with an incredible amount of energy. You could battle for days and never run out of energy."

"I'd love to get my hands on something like that." Paul said, "So, what are we going to do? We can't...just take all of the berries, that'd kill the plant! We probably shouldn't touch it."

"You're exactly right." Dr. Mario said, "The plant is also very fragile, and easy to kill. I wouldn't want to be the man that made Magi plants extinct. We should keep going and find Lyon. Maybe if I find those other ingredients, I'll come back and make some of that medicine."

"You know how!?" Link yelped.

"I read about it in the angel's library." Dr. Mario said, "In fact, I have the book right here." He pulled out a small book from his pocket.

"How is that book not damaged?" Matt asked suspiciously.

"It is enchanted." Dr. Mario explained, "The angels put charms on it to preserve it. It is full of incredible things. I managed to get it before the Library fell down from the clouds..."

"I'm glad you grabbed it, then." Fox said, "We'll have to see about finding those ingredients sometime, that medicine sounds like it would be extremely useful." He handed the berry back to Dr. Mario, who pocketed it.

"Let's keep going." Erika said, "I'm worried that we've gone so deep already, and haven't run into Lyon yet."

"Back at Angel Land, before the worlds fused back together, Me and Lyon saw that book, and read it. I'm sure he recognized those berries, if he saw them, and went in further." Dr. Mario said.

"Then we should get going." Bowser said.

"There's a path on each side of that tunnel." Ephraim said, pointing at the tunnel that continued downwards. "We can walk on the sides, instead of swimming."

"I think we're getting closer to that demon." Ness commented, "I can tell its close."

"Then let's keep heading down." Eliwood said, "If that's the case we ought to find Lyon soon."

"I hope so." Paul said, "This cold is starting to get to me."

"I think Lyn's an ice cube." Roy said. Everybody looked at Lyn, and noticed that she was indeed blue, and not moving much at all.

"Lyn! You ok?" Pichu asked. Lyn shook her head back and forth.

"Stay close to me." Matt said, "I'll warm up the air around my body, and you'll thaw, eventually." He walked up to Lyn and helped her get up off the ground from her fetal position, and the red aura once again surrounded his body.

Then, the team walked across the courtyard and passed a few more Magi plants, and then walked across two small bridges that went to ledges that were on the walls of the next sluice. They walked down the ledges for a few minutes, until they came to another small room. The bridges got larger and larger until they met in the middle of the sluice to form a hallway, and a metal grate kept anything from getting trapped beneath the stone floor.

Down at the end of this hallway was another room about as big as a bedroom, and in the wall right across from the hallway was a large stone door. It was engraved with many flowing runes, and with what looked like Magi plants. It was very delicate.

"It's been opened recently." Luigi said.

"Yeah, it has. Lyon must be on the other side!" Eliwood said.

"I hope he is!" Pichu said, "I'm sorry we had to come all the way down here to rescue his duff!"

"Be nice, Pichu." Kirby said.

"I hope we can get outta this place." Yoshi said, sounding worried.

"I'm sure there's an exit of some sort here somewhere." Luigi said, "Why'd they make a crazy place like this without an exit? Where's the logic in that?"

While Luigi talked, Bowser walked up to the door, and pushed it open. It led into a room the size of a small throne room. There was a row of green grass that worked as a red carpet, and there were pillars up against the walls that were covered in ivy. The room was covered in foliage. At the back, there was what looked like a shrine, and behind the shrine, was a massive statue. It's waist and down were shaped like a bell, and it had a conical body, with gigantic pillar-like arms, and an oval shaped head with two slits for eyes. It was at least twenty feet tall and eight feet wide at the base. On its head was a bracket that held a large tigerstone.

The statue stood like a sentinel, calmly and passively guarding great secrets.

"...Guys?" Paul said.

"Yeah?"

"That statue is the demon." Paul said.

"You're kidding me." Link gasped.

"It is!" Ness said. "...But it isn't doing anything."

"I think I get it." Dr. Mario said, "This thing is the reason this place is so fertile. It might be of the earth element!"

"...Could it be?" Erika asked, looking at her brother with wide eyes.

"...This thing may very well be the cause of Grado's destruction." Ephraim said, "In the near future, a gigantic earthquake is supposed to level Grado, and destroy it. If this demon is stronger than Scorpio was, then it just might be strong enough to shatter the entire continent with its power."

"If that's the case, can we risk battling it down here?" Kirby asked, "It might bury us down here!"

"It's a risk we'll have to take." Matt said, "Look around the room for any signs of Lyon. That demon looks like it won't be waking up any time soon."

The team split up to look around the room, and it didn't take long before Lyon was spotted.

"LYON!" Erika yelled. She was the first to spot him. He was leaning up against the back of one of the pillars in the corner, with his head resting against his chest. He woke up from his sleep when he heard Erika call his name.

"Erika?" He asked. He saw her, and smiled. "How did you get down here, of all places?"

"Lyon!" Ephraim said, "Good to see you again."

"And Ephraim too!" Lyon exclaimed, "Did you two come by yourselves?"

"No, we were helped by at least fifteen people." Erika said.

Lyon got up and walked away from the pillar, and turned to see everybody.

"...Holy cow. I don't think you needed one whole fourth of the Super Smash Brothers to save me." He said, dumbfounded.

"We were saving people, and stuff just kinda...snowballed." Matt said, shrugging.

"I see." Lyon said, "...Dr. Mario, I trust you saw those Magi plants?"

"I sure did." Dr. Mario replied.

"It's incredible!" Lyon said, "All the research we could do! And I'd even be able to make the ultimate medicine that would cure any illness!"

"Whoa, chill, Lyon!" Ephraim said, "You get excited about stuff like this too easily!"

"So? Is that necessarily bad?" He asked.

"Well, it got you killed, and most of Grado destroyed." Ephraim said absently, "...Of course, I'm not blaming you. It was an accident, and you did all of that in an attempt to save your people."

"It was honorable, and selfless, but it just went wrong." Erika said, "Please, don't take such burdens on yourself all the time. We're here to help, you know!"

"I know, and I appreciate it." Lyon said, sincerely. "...But this city...I've never heard of it before, and here it is!"

"It must have been built a long time before the Demon King came." Link said.

"Otherwise, your history may have said something about it. I guess it was forgotten during the terror of the Demon King's days." Ness said.

"And this guardian..." Lyon said sadly, "I know what it is, but do you know what it once _was_?"

"No." Matt replied honestly.

"It was the guardian deity of this city, and still is." Lyon said, "It is a work of masterful artisanship and arch sages. They built it and imbued it with life, which it returned to them by bringing their city fertility. Plants are even able to thrive down here where, under different circumstances, would be impossible. The people thought of the statue as a deity, but as we all know it is just an incredible statue. But one day, an evil spirit seeped into the stonework of this sentinel, and it came to life. It was sealed down here, and I'm guessing this happened all around the time of the Demon King's reign of terror."

"How do you know this?" Fox asked.

"I read the runes on the shrine, what else?" Lyon asked, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh." Fox said.

"...Seven hundred years ago?" Matt asked, looking confused, "On the galactic timetable, that's really recent...That's odd!"

"Let's just put it out of its misery already." Bowser said.

"The statue, I've taken a look at it." Lyon said, "The statue seems to have a sentience of its own, and its fighting against total possession as we speak."

"I guess it loses control, and that is why Grado gets destroyed." Ephraim said, "We should try to purify the statue, then, because if we destroy the statue, the Magi plants will die."

"This is a tough choice." Luigi said, "Either way, something will be lost..."

"I hate to say it, but I think the statue should go." Dr. Mario said, with deep remorse, "There's no way I'd choose millions of innocent lives over a rare plant."

"Then let's do this." Matt said, "I'll use Chaos Purify. If it works, the statue will be fine. If something happens, though, bye bye statue."

"I hope it doesn't." Eliwood said, "It would be a terrible loss."

Matt walked up to the statue, and when he was in front of the shrine, he once again summoned an aura of chaos energy, this time white.

"HRRRRRRRRRRRRNG!!" Matt grunted. The aura flared up around his body, and he steadily glowed brighter and brighter as he charged energy.

The statue shook, and suddenly, its body softened and its eye opened up, revealing eyes made of yellow topaz with star shapes in the center. It looked at Matt, and before he could get out of the way, it hopped right up next to him, smashing the altar into the ground in the process. It clubbed Matt with its arm and sent him flying into a wall, where he slammed into it and hit the ground.

"OW!" He yelled, "I'm ok!"

"That demon won't be!" Bowser yelled.

"CHARGE!" Link cried.

"STOP!" Lyon yelled in a panic.

Too late. The statue opened its mouth, which was previously invisible, and exhaled a cloud of grey dust. Link, Paul, Kirby, Pichu, Eliwood, Lyn, Fox, Ness, and Luigi managed to get out of the way but Bowser took the blast full on, and Roy, Lilina, Yoshi, and Dr. Mario were enveloped by the cloud. When the dust settled, five perfect statues stood behind where they stood. A bit of the cloud touched Ephraim's leg and turned it to stone, and Erika's face started to petrify as well.

"OH MY GOSH!" Matt screamed, "They've been petrified!"

"If they get smashed in their stone form, there won't be anybody to save!" Lyon yelled, "I have a restore staff, but I have to charge it up!"

"Hurry up!" Ephraim shouted, "The petrification is spreading!" At first, it was just his lower leg that was stone, but now he was stone all the way up to his hip. Erika's head was stone, and it was rapidly spreading from her torso to her lower half of her body, which wasn't moving.

Paul was horrified by the sight, and so he didn't see the giant club arm come swinging in his direction. It smashed him up against a wall and dazed the heck out of him. Link, Kirby, and Eliwood worked to move the statues out of the way while everybody else took on the demon.

Pichu tried valiantly to attack with lightning, but the electricity merely hit the statue and diffused into the ground harmlessly. "My attacks don't work!" She wailed.

"I'm going for wind attacks, then! They work best against earth elementals." He swapped his element to wind, and charged up a powerful wind punch. The demon saw him coming and threw a straight punch at him, which he sidestepped. He jumped up into the air and slugged the demon in the face while releasing wind energy, but the demon shrugged it off and slapped him away. Paul recovered from getting whacked, and fired a Sonic cutter at the demon's back from his position. It just shattered on the demon's back, and drew attention back to him.

"Crap." Paul said. The demon punched at him, and Paul stuck his chest out and arched his back to avoid the arm as it went sailing past him and through the wall. "Whoa!" While it was pulling is arm out, Paul slashed it with his sword, but his weapon bounced right off without hurting it at all.

Bowser was still in the way because nobody could move him, he weighed so much. The demon took another swing at Paul, and smacked Bowser's statue up against a wall. It landed on the ground in one piece.

"He's made of tougher stuff than I thought." Luigi joked. He pulled out his hammer, and he, Matt, and Paul charged the demon again. Its eyes flashed, and a wall of spikes shot up from the ground and blocked them off. More spikes shot up around them and trapped them in a cylinder of stone. It then attacked by sweeping its arm into the cylinder in an attempt to crush the three inside, but they jumped out before they were crushed. They slammed it in the head with strong attacks, which seemed to daze it slightly, and they took the chance to back up and shoot projectiles at it.

"It has to have a weakness somewhere!" Fox said.

"Let's go back to our old strategy we used against that gargoyle in the woods!" Ness said.

"Freezing and heating!" Matt said, "I like it! Charge up, Ness! Everybody, use ice attacks again on Ness!"

"PSI MAGNET!" Ness yelled. Matt shot him with ice bullets, Link shot ice arrows, Luigi shot ice from his vacuum, which he pulled out of nowhere, Fox shot a stream of ice from his staff, and Paul used Blizzard constantly.

After five seconds of charging, Ness released the accumulated energy in a massive ball of ice.

"PK...FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!" Ness cried. The ice attack slammed into the demon and put it in the ice age, completely immobilizing it. Luigi, Matt, Paul, Eliwood, Link, Kirby, and Fox mustered up as much strength as they could, and attacked the demon. They broke the ice off and freed the demon, but it didn't crack it at all.

"Just what is this thing made of!?" Link asked.

"Rock, maybe, I don't know." Ness replied sarcastically, "We have to hit it harder!"

"I've got it!" Lyon said, "Restore!"

A shaft of green light enveloped all of the petrified smashers, and the stone fell off them in a cloud of harmless dirt. Erika gasped and inhaled deeply, like she was suffocating, and the rest of the un-petrified smashers looked about like, "what the heck happened?"

"Watch out!" Matt shouted.

Bowser saw the arm coming at him like a giant baseball bat. He caught it and stopped it right in place, only skidding back a foot or two.

"THIS is for breathing your stinky breath on me!" Bowser shouted, blowing a cloud of white fire in the demon's face. The room rumbled, and the demon backed up in pain. The rumbling was its cry of agony, the very earth wept with its pain.

"Ok, Switch to Holy weapons!" Link said.

"But I was using mine!" Luigi complained.

"Hit harder!" Ness suggested.

Bowser kept holding the demon's arm, and Matt, Paul, Luigi, and Eliwood ran up and used the Emerald Blade, Excalibur, Thor's hammer, and Durandal respectively.

Luigi reached there first, and attacked the demon's face with an explosive blow from his hammer. It head butted him away, and Paul and Matt double slashed it at the base. It hopped back and exhaled another cloud of smoke, but they quickly ran behind it and charged up an attack.

Matt created a new attack off the top of his mind, and charged an insane amount of fire energy into his fist. "METEOR PUNCH!" He yelled.

His fist slammed into the golem's back, and actually knocked it a few feet! It was still really cold from the attack, and the sudden heat weakened its defense.

"Freeze break!" Paul said. He charged up ice energy, and slashed the demon right in the hot sweet spot. The hot stone froze and shattered off the demon's body, and the ground rumbled again. Before they could dodge the statue spun like a top with its massive arms out, and it swatted them away and leveled all of the nearby pillars. After it finished spinning, it hopped across the ground with tiny, minuscule jumps so that it was actually moving fast, and it hammered the ground right in front of it, causing a huge quake. Everybody had a hard time standing up, and since the quakes kept them from moving fast, it quickly caught up to them and hammered them into the ground.

Kirby dodged by floating up into the air, and he pulled out his star rod and shot a star beam at the demon. It levitated out of the way and landed on top of him, completely crushing him into the ground.

"That's it!" Lyon shouted angrily, "NAGLFAR!"

Purple mist surrounded the demon and imprisoned it, then a gigantic whirlwind of dark energy battered it, and exploded in a violent burst of black energy. The demon leaned over precariously, and Kirby popped up underneath its base and whacked it with his hammer. While it was knocked over, Lyon cast Luna and blasted its life force directly with purple flames. Eliwood jumped way into the air to gain momentum, then came crashing down for a devastating blow...

"HEY! I only chipped its armor!" Eliwood complained. BAP!

The demon smacked him with its arm, and finally Roy decided to attack.

"FLARE BLADEZ!" He screamed. He went crazy, slashing the demon with exploding attacks that did just about as much as his dad's attack did, and the demon buried him in the ground with a good whack. Finally, Lyn recovered from her freezingness, and pulled out Reinfleche. She nocked an arrow, and shot the demon right in the gem on its forehead, which apparently hurt it very badly. It thrashed on the ground and continuously pounded Roy on the head, to the point his eyes were rolling and he was drooling again.

"Yay, I'm a spaceman!" He laughed.

"Ok, fall back!" Link yelled as the demon went on a mindless rampage again. Bowser pulled Roy from the ground, and the whole team retreated into a corner to talk.

"Its weakness is its headstone." Lyn breathed excitedly.

"And the old heat and freeze technique works on it too." Matt said.

"I think the place where you shattered its back is weak, so me and anybody else that wants to will attack the broken areas." Link suggested.

"And I'll keep attacking it with Luna!" Lyon said.

"Ok, break!" Paul shouted. Everybody skittered aside as the demon aimed a powerful punch at them that smashed another section of the wall. Ephraim stabbed the arm with his lance and chipped it again, then backed off before it could jump on him.

"PK FREEZE!" Ness yelled. He froze the statue's base to the ground, and then Luigi continued spraying the demon with ice from his vacuum. Paul used Freeze Break while Matt fired balls of ice chaos energy.

The demon broke the ice off with a titanic quake, then it started making the ground rumble again. When it hit the ground with its fist the next time, it aimed at Link's crew behind its back, and sent a wave of earth spikes at them. They leapt aside and Bowser crushed the spikes as he ran forwards, then he slashed with his Koopa Klaw attack. The demon blocked with its arm and tossed him aside, and then fired a jet of light from its headstone. Lyon was hit by it before he could dodge or use Luna, and a whole bunch of plants grew up around him and trapped him in a net. Lyn ran over to its front, and shot another arrow into the headstone, then Matt used his meteor punch on the demon. The arrow cracked the demon's headstone, and Matt's punch blew away another chunk of its body. Dr. Mario cut Lyon loose from the vines with one of his super freaking sharp surgical knives, and Lyon cast Luna on the demon once more.

The demon actually roared, after being hit. Then, it did something really scary. It glowed brightly and floated above the ground, then started spinning at such a high speed it created a whirlwind. Everybody was sucked in and mauled by its spinning arms, then scattered when it stopped spinning. When it landed, it smashed Kirby, Bowser, and Paul into the ground, and then rapidly fired lasers from its headstone. Vines grew up and captured many more smashers, leaving only Roy, Eliwood, Link, Lyn, Pichu, Luigi, and Ness standing.

It turned to face them, then it charged up another huge amount of energy.

"Watch out!" Link warned.

The statue raised its arms above its head, then slammed the ground.

Fissures spread out from where it rested on the ground, and traveled all the way around the room. The cracks covered every single wall, and then, with a single ear-splitting crack, the room disintegrated and the floor fell out.

Everybody that was stuck in vines stayed suspended in what was left of the room, but the seven that escaped being caught in the vines dropped down with the demon, down into another, much larger cave.

There was a large, circular center platform, which was surrounded by water that was so deep, it was impossible to see the bottom.

Link, Eliwood, Lyn, Luigi, Ness, and Pichu landed on their feet, and Roy landed on his face. Bowser, Kirby, and Paul, who were still under the demon when it fell, got double whammied between its base and the hard rock floor. They were out like lights.

"GAH!" Matt roared angrily, "We can't lose like this! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

When everybody looked up at Matt, he was exuding a red aura again, but it was wild, and it licked everything within range like a flame. Matt continued screaming with exertion, and as the glow around his body intensified, the vines containing him suddenly evaporated into smoke, and he floated in the air, glowing.

There was a hair-raising flash of light, and Matt changed.

His hair went from black to fire red, and his clothing sported flames. His mecha arm glowed with a large amount of red light, and the metal itself was red.

"Meet Fire Matt!" Matt said, menacingly. "HY-YAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!"

He flew at the demon at top speed, and flew so fast he left behind a trail of fire in the air.

The demon saw him coming and breathed smoke at him, which Matt blew away with a giant stream of molten chaos plasma. The demon screeched when the fire hit it, and it started punching at Matt at an impossible speed. Matt matched it blow for blow, then used a super wicked powerful Meteor Punch to send it flying.

The demon caught itself in mid-air, spun around, and dove right into the water. It created a huge cloud of fog, and nobody was prepared for it. Matt looked around in vain to see if he could find the demon, but it shot out of the mist and clubbed him across the head really hard. He fell back to the ground, but flipped in midair and kicked off the ground back towards the demon. It vanished back into the mist, and it attacked Matt again. He blocked and launched another fiery assault against it, but it dove back into the water and came up behind Link and co. while they were watching.

"Watch OUT!" Matt yelled. The demon fired a different type of ray from its headstone, which hit the ground beneath the spectators. The ground heaved, and ejected massive earth spikes that would have killed them, had they been impaled on the tips. Instead, they were flung up into the air and scattered about.

The demon then fired a laser right at Matt and knocked him out of the air and into a wall. He fell and hit the water with a splash, and his fire powers faded as he started to lose his grip on his consciousness.

Link was still in the air, so he fired a bomb arrow right at the demon's weakened area, and fired. The explosion hurt it a little, but didn't do too much. It looked back at Link and flew at him really fast, and he dived out of the way to fire another bomb arrow. It did a u-turn, and came right back at him and wound up a punch. Eliwood jumped between Link and the oncoming attack, and blocked with his massive sword. The impact knocked him back a whole lot, then Eliwood shot a flare of fire from his sword and hit the demon. Luigi zipped in and shot a chunk of ice at the hot arm, and shattered it.

The statue demon was left with one arm, but it was hopping freaking mad. It pounded up and down on the ground with its base in the manner of a giant hammer, and Lyn was knocked off her feet as she dashed towards the demon. It flew at her and raised its arm to smash and kill her, but Ness rescued her and pulled her out of the way with his PSI.

Lyn took the chance to shoot another arrow into the demon's headstone, which finally shattered. When it shattered, every last shred of hesitation went out of the demon, and it went into a full rampage. It screamed and pounded the floor, causing the whole cave to shake.

Earth spikes formed on the ceiling and dropped down, and more earth spike stuck up from the ground, all over the place.

The demon finally stopped pounding, but its eyes were glowing like chunks of brimstone from Hades, and it gave off a powerful aura of evil. It charged at Link who accidentally screamed like a girl, and ran for his life. He used magic to change into his Magic Armor while he was running, and just in time. The demon tackled him and smashed him up against one of the walls. Roy used a jumping FLARE BLADEZ attack, as he called it, and attacked the demon's back with a huge explosion. Luigi then spammed his vacuum and fired a storm of ice chunks, which cracked the demon's armor and made it even madder. It moved back and forth in the air really fast, and continuously slammed Link up against the wall.

"Get-OOF! Lyn-D'OH! Here-GAH! Now-AAAH!!" Link screamed in between smashings.

"Hey! Up here you oversized lump of crap!" Fox yelled. The demon stopped smashing Link, and he fell into the water below with a wussy sploosh noise. Fox had a black sniper rifle in his hands, and his eye was up at the scope...

BLAM!

Fox fired, and shot the demon right in the left eye. It screamed in pain and started flailing blindly, and Fox pulled out his staff and focused all of his and the staff's energy into the rifle. With a huge bang, the laser pierced through the demon's body, and hurt it very badly. Lyn zipped up and slashed it in one of its wounds with her Sol Katti sword, and the demon finally started to wear down. Luigi ran at it and slammed it again, knocking it back and stunning it, and Link fired a whole quiver full of bomb arrows at it...

The giant explosion threw the demon against the walls of the cave, and Roy teamed up with his dad for a super slash attack. The demon screeched when it was hit, and it knocked the two swordsmen away with its arm.

They landed safely, and the group gathered and watched the demon warily as it floated away from the wall, looking very damaged and woebegone.

Then, its evil aura flashed and expanded, casting a eerie red shadow around the cave. It started spinning really fast and whipped up another whirlwind, and then spewed the jinxed smoke into it, creating a deadly grey smoke twister.

The smashers tried escaping it, but they were sucked right in.

Seconds later their stony bodies dropped to the ground with a thud, defeated.

Bowser woke up, and sat up to rub his sore head for the second time that say.

"Huh? What happened...?" He asked, looking around the cave. Then it all suddenly clicked! "Oh nuts! The floor!" He looked about wildly, and saw all of the statues, Matt's KO'd body floating in the water face up, and everybody else screaming at him from above.

"BOWSER! CATCH!" Dr. Mario shouted urgently. He plucked the Magi berry from his coat pocket, and threw it down to Bowser. He caught it, and examined the emerald green berry before throwing it down the hatch.

The second it fell into his gut, Bowser's eyes opened wide in shock, and he coughed out smoke. His body started glowing and giving off an eerie green light, and then, just like that, it faded.

"...BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRP!!" Bowser belched, "Ew...excuse me!" he shouted.

The demon faced him and screeched, and then flew at him to ram him again. Bowser braced himself for impact, and with perfect timing, caught the statue by the head and the arm. He spun around super fast and tossed it into the wall, then breathed a huge fireball at it.

"...Holy crap!" Bowser said, all grins, "I did that without even breaking a sweat!"

The demon flew back at him, and attacked with all of its fury. Its body sprouted spikes, the ground went into seismic upheavals, and spikes fell from the ceiling like rain. Bowser dashed towards his foe and sent out waves of energy from his claws, slashing and blowing up spikes before they could hit him. He stepped across the ground with perfect agility, dodging the shaking with his newfound speed.

Before it knew what hit it, the demon was flying back with a white hot gash in its torso.

"Heh! That's what you get for messing with me!" Bowser said, thrusting his claws forwards and taunting the demon.

It looked at him through its one good eye, and then the earth shook. It looked like it was inhaling air, then it expelled a massive cloud of dust.

"Not gonna happen!" Bowser said, "SUPERNOVA!"

He tucked into his shell and spun super fast, then breathed out white hot fire and created a whirling inferno. He blazed right into the demon with his trademark finishing attack, and slashed wildly at the demon, tearing away chunks of it at a time and incinerating them.

Bowser tore right through the middle of the demon, which exploded in the fires of a storm as hot as a star, and in mid-attack, Bowser fainted as some foreign cold seeped into his body and stole his consciousness.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Whoa. This chapter is STUPID long. I hope you enjoyed it!**

**I don't have much to say, except that Corruption is now more than half as long as Supremacy, and that..well, it WAS the fourth of july...**

**Happy was independence day, everybody! Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you next time! Happy...sorta holiday!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	49. Rest Before War

**Hello again, all!**

**...Dude, seriously, today, I have nothing to say except thank you all for reading and reviewing. I really appreciate it.**

**This chapter is really just...well, sort of a filler chapter. I can't just jump right into the next arc, can I? That'd be bad for my plans. I can't just throw people wherever I want. If you people don't mind a filler chapter here and there, that'd be awesome.**

**If ya do have problems with it, though, I'll see if I can't find some way to prevent them from appearing later. Thanks for reading, everybody!**

**Ok, WOMDDD asked me how many elemental demon masters there were going to be. I'll answer: The number is indefinite at this point, but you can expect to see at least eight. There may be more...but don't hold your breath. Holding your breath suffocates you, and too much suffocation kills you! This is for all of you weirdy people that think holding your breath makes the world go 'round!**

**-Chapter XXXXIX-**

**-Rest Before War-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Everything was black, and with a sudden gasp, Bowser regained consciousness.

"I still can't believe that I got smushed like that." Paul said, looking sheepish as he scratched his head.

Bowser looked around, and found himself in a white room, and his senses told him he was laying in a soft bed.

"It couldn't be helped." Matt said, "I got owned by its punch. I'm still having a hard time believing I got beaten so easily."

"You didn't get petrified, though." Link mumbled, "It's scary, something I've never experienced before."

"I've fought Gorgons that could turn you into stone with just a look." Ephraim replied, "It's nothing new for me, although I must say it IS weird feeling."

"That crawling cold sensation that renders you immobile, and then the sudden blackness." Erika said, describing the effects of petrification accurately, "And then waking up somewhere, thinking, what happened?"

"I'm still tired after healing all of you." Lyon said, "And THEN I used my warp staff! It ended up being me that saved all of you people. Ironic, if you ask me."

"So where are we anyways?" Bowser asked suddenly from his bed.

"Back on the Halberd, in the temporary infirmary." Ness answered, "You sure took your time waking up, huh?"

"So I'm guessing I've been out a few days?" Bowser grunted.

"Yeah, a few," Yoshi said, "About three days, to be exact."

"Good news is, you're awake!" Link said with exuberance.

"Bad news is I'm exhausted after warping to Renais to get your stupid weapons back." Lyon growled, brandishing the Waiser Rapier and Longinus. "Oh, before I forget, you people owe me ten thousand smash coins for that warp staff. It broke under all of that strain I put it under."

"Why don't you just make yourself a new one?" Ness asked, after everybody was finished wincing.

"Because I need ten thousand smash coins to get the necessary parts." Lyon replied, "I paid for the parts myself last time, but since I used it all up ferrying you about with my own good energy, I deserve reimbursement."

"Not gonna argue with that kind of logic." Matt sighed.

"...Ya." Lyon said, sounding somewhat moody. "Thanks for coming to my aid, though. I appreciate it."

"Yo' welcome!" Kirby said.

"But you still owe me." Lyon repeated, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some research to conduct, and I desire peace." He said as he turned and left the room.

"...Any idea what he's working on now?" Luigi asked Mario's clone.

"Not a clue." Dr. Mario replied, "Bowser, you're free to go. Besides your short coma, you're in the best shape out of anybody here."

"Lilina used up a whole Recover staff on me and Kirby." Paul said, "And I'm still busted up after twenty Curagas later!"

"I still feel like a squish." Kirby said, "I'm gonna have a hard time forgetting being a squish."

"...So, do I look any weirder than usual?" Bowser asked, "I know Yoshi changed, but since we don't know about Samus...well, do I look different?"

"No, not really," Dr. Mario said, "Your scales are ten times stronger, though, and I suspect you have some type of new power-"

Bowser accidentally coughed, and exhaled a cloud of smoke in Dr. Mario's face. He fell back, completely turned to stone.

"...Oi, I'll go get Fina." Link said as he left the room.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-Back in the Bridge-

"We're nearing Hyrule." Ganondorf announced.

"It's hard to believe how many people we have rescued already." Meta Knight commented.

"At this rate we'll be whole again in no time!" Spam said, to which his Snifit buddy Snurckle agreed. The door opened up, and Link came strolling in.

"Hey, has anybody seen Fina around?" he asked.

"She went to help E.Gad with some crazy experiment." Popo said, "That dude scares me sometimes."

"I think his big swirly glasses are funny." Nana giggled.

"His lab is near Lyon's new quarters." Meta Knight reminded Link.

"Thanks!" Link said. He left the room just as suddenly as he entered.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

As Link wandered down the hallway, he couldn't help but think of how Bowser and Yoshi had strange new powers. Just what were these demons, anyways, and what was their purpose?

They knew nothing about these demons, and yet they kept finding them in the obscurest places...and what was scary, was they were all so close to them the whole time...waiting.

Waiting for what? Again, what was their purpose? And where did these demons come from?

Link stopped right in his tracks, struck dumb.

"The void!" Link yelled triumphantly, "That's where all these things are coming from!"

He ran down the hallway and accidentally knocked Roy off the metal walkway, and he fell down on top of some waddle dees working on machines below. He angrily blew raspberries at the hylian's retreating figure, then got up off the squashed dreamlanders. Link reached E. Gad's lab in about a minute, and he burst into the room.

"Hey, Fina-WHOA!" Link shouted, ducking under some lethal flying object. It smashed into the door above his head, and Link found himself on the floor, hunched over with his hands covering his head. He quickly stood back up to see Fina giggling heartily behind her hand while E. Gad, grinned. "Oops." Link said, good-naturedly.

"That was the guided boomerang!" E. Gad finally said, "It is controlled by the user's brainwaves, and flies where it is directed!"

"Is that even possible?" Link asked, as he pulled a strange piece of curved silver metal from above the door.

"Very possible." Fina replied, "Watch." She looked at the boomerang, which suddenly jerked out of Link's hands, flew around him while spiraling upwards, then it knocked his hat off and soared back into Fina's outstretched hand. "It's all done with this band on my head that reads specific brain waves...Unfortunately the user is rendered immobile while using it..."

"And I've tried so hard to fix that." Elvin Gad sighed, "I guess things just can't be made perfect." Link looked at him in astonishment, before speaking.

"Perfect? This may not be perfect, but it's one of the most incredible things I have ever seen!" he exclaimed.

"Aw, I'm flattered." The little professor blushed with pleasure at Link's compliment, "Tell you what: I have the specs for the boomerang there. You can keep it, and I'll make another!"

"...Seriously?" Link asked.

"Yeah, seriously!" E. Gad said, "Just don't break it. I made the boomerang outta Chaosuranium. It should be very hard to break, but that head band is what I'm worried about. It ain't so tough."

"I'll keep that in mind." Link said, "Hey, Fina, I actually came here to get you: Dr. Mario's been petrified, and he needs some help."

"Oh, Bowser coughed AGAIN?" She sighed, "All right, I shall come along. I'll be back, Mr. Gad!"

"You're done for today, Fina, "E. Gad said, "You helped me out tons! You take it easy!"

"You too, professor!" Fina said, before the door closed.

"Right this way." Link said, taking the lead. He still held the odd device, and Fina followed close behind him. It took them a minute to get back to the infirmary, where they found everybody else petrified as well, and Bowser looking very guilty.

"...Sigh, what am I going to do with you?" Fina asked.

Bowser flashed a sheepish grin in response.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A bit later, everybody was cured of their petrification, and a waddle dee came in to vacuum up the dust left on the floor.

"Is there something you wanted to tell us?" Matt asked, :"Your face says it all."

"...I had a revelation." Link said, seriously, "I know where those freak demons are coming from. I can't believe we didn't think about it!"

"Where'd they come from, then?" Luigi asked.

"They all came from the void!" Link exclaimed, "That's why it has been sealed up. To keep the monsters from coming out!"

"You know what? I think you're right." Matt said, "They'd only started appearing after the Void had been unsealed...But then these elemental demons have been on this planet for since before then! Have they really been here this whole time?"

"I think they might have been sleeping, " Ness said, "Something tells me they were sleeping, and when the Void opened back up is when they woke. That would explain the state of Angel Land after we left it! Scorpio did all of that, with his storm-like powers!"

"Then we should look for similar happenings." Yoshi said, "I think that's our ticket to finding the rest of the demons!"

"Do we really want to find them, though?" Paul asked, "We still don't know what they're here for!"

"Of course we want them dead!" Bowser said, "That Earth demon could have killed millions with its rampage, and that lightning bug killed Samus! Plus...we get awesome powers." Bowser then coughed, and a fly that got caught in the smoke fell out of the air like a tiny pebble, and smashed on the metal floor.

"You really need to find a way to control that coughing of yours." Kirby said.

"I think Bowser's body is still adapting to the changes." Dr. Mario explained, "Give it some time, and he ought to have things under control." Bowser coughed again, and Dr. Mario once again resumed the consistency of rock. Fina healed him with Curia once more, and the same waddle dee from earlier came in and vacuumed up the dust.

"Sorry." Bowser sniffed as he scratched his nose, "That dust is making my nose itch."

"None taken." Dr. Mario said, before turning to face everybody else, "In case if something stupid like this keeps happening, keep these with you always." Dr. Mario said. He shoved a handful of golden needles into Matt's hand, and left the room.

"Those are enchanted to remove stone." Paul said, recognizing the items, "Just poke somebody, and the stone will go away in a flash.

"Sounds painful." Pichu said.

"Do I look like a pincushion to you!?" Kirby snarled angrily. Bowser coughed again, and Kirby was unfortunate enough to get caught in the smoke. Luigi grabbed one of the needles, and poked Kirby's statue with it. In an instant, the stone fell off him in a cloud of dust, and he jumped away with a yelp.

"See!? That HURTS!" Kirby insisted as he plucked the needle from his flabby arm.

"That's funny." Ness said, "Look at the needle!"

Kirby handed Matt the needle, which was now grey colored.

"...By gum, it turned to lead. What the heck?" Matt asked as he examined the needle.

"Most shops should sell those." Paul said, "It's just hard to convince people to let them go, sometimes."

"Meh, we'll handle that when the time comes." Matt said, "Didn't you say we were going to Hyrule next, Link?"

"Yes." Link said at once, "Zelda, Vyse, Seth, Snake, and that Outskirt shop guy should be there somewhere. We need to find them, and I also fear that something may be up..."

"Don't worry!" Pichu piped up, "We'll find them safe and sound!"

"I'm not worried about Zelda, exactly..." Link said, with apprehension, "...I'm actually more worried for Snake."

"Why?" Kirby asked.

"Well, let's put it THIS way." Matt said, "Putting Snake in the same room with Zelda is like locking Roy and Samus in the same room with an atomic bomb."

"Oh." Kirby said, his body blanched as comprehension dawned on him.

"Yeah, Sammy used to like making booms!" Pichu said, "She was so funny!"

"...Was." Link sighed, hanging his head in sorrow, "This whole deal is making me think: How many more people will be sacrificed by our actions? What will the world be like after we've saved it?"

"I'd relax a little bit." Yoshi said, "What happened to Samus wasn't any fault of our own...She was just...in the wrong place at the wrong...time...sniff"

"...From now on...We keep others out of this." Link said, determinedly, "I'm not going to have anybody else die. We're going to find out what's going on, once and for all!"

"And we're starting with Hyrule?" Luigi asked with a hint of skepticism, "What do you think we'll find there?"

"It's just a feeling." Link said, "But it's a strong feeling. If I have to go there myself, I will. I have a feeling that's where we're needed the most right now."

"Who said you was gonna go by yourself?" Pichu asked, "We're all going with ya, right?"

"Yeah!" Yoshi said.

"Let's go prepare." Matt suggested, "We'll take the gummi ship."

"...I think I'll stay." Bowser said, "Still not feeling too hot."

"Ok, see ya!" Ness said as the team left the room.

"...You know ya don't have to stay here, right?" Yoshi asked, from the door.

"You go ahead. I'm staying because until I get this...new power under my control, I'm a risk." Bowser said, regretfully.

"Ok, we'll miss ya." Yoshi said, leaving Bowser alone.

"...Good luck, dudes." Bowser sighed, "Don't go getting yourselves killed!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back in the ship, Matt and Link walked into the cockpit where Fox sat, working on the equipment. He was just tightening up a few screws under the master control console when they came in.

"How's the ship?" Matt asked.

"It's ok." Fox said, "I was just checking the wires to make sure they were in good condition. They are."

"That's good. We ready to take off, then?" Link asked, "We're going into Hyrule this time."

"Sure, I'm going to put the tools away...Go ahead and get everybody that's going on board."

"We're here already." Ness announced, as the crew came in through the trap door.

"Hey, Ness!" Link said while Fox slinked out to put the tools away, "E. Gad game me something I think you might be able to use better than any of us." And he pulled out the boomerang and handed it to Ness.

"...What is this? A toy? I have enough of those already!" Ness exclaimed, pulling out his bat and his yo-yo.

"Put this band on your head, and when you throw the boomerang, you can control everything it does with your mind." Link explained.

"...OH!" Ness gasped.

"I thought it would be best to give it to you, since you're the only person on our team that fights solely with his brain. E. Gad said you can't move while you're using the boomerang, though..."

"I'll keep that in mind." Ness said as he put his new weapon away.

"Hey!" Pichu squeaked angrily, "I want a new weapon thingy!"

In response to Pichu's selfish demands, Kirby grabbed a life saving flotation device out of nowhere, and slammed it down on top of her head.

"There, have a party, or knock yourself out." He said, "I'd prefer it if you knocked yourself out, though."

Pichu zapped him. Again.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When Fox got back into the cockpit, he took the pilot's seat, and Matt the co-pilot's seat. The cargo door on the Halberd opened up at a signal to the bridge, which Meta Knight approved of, and the team was on their way.

What were they going to find in Hyrule this time?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Sorry for the cheesy ending. I had to do it.**

**Anyways, nothing to say, really! I'm going on a short vacation this Thursday and won't be back till Monday, so don't expect anymore updates till then, Sorry, peeps!**

**I'll see you then, and thanks for reading and staying with me! See ya next time, and take care!**

**With that said, a new ark begins! Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	50. Getting to the Bottom of it

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

**Aha ha ha...OOPS! I think I took too long of a break. U**

**So sorry about that. I'm fine, I've just been getting started on some game projects of mine. Ya see, I have my own game creation crew, if you can even call it that, and I was working on a Metroid fan game. If any of you peeps are interested in beta testing it sometime...i'll work something out.**

**Unfortunately, I'm not exactly making any progress getting any attention with my projects. I should probably just stick with stories...we'll just see. sigh**

**BEHOLD, Square Phoenix Lmt! (Name of my good old team. Sorta of a joke. He he.)**

**Enough excuses! I'm not abandoning my stories, so fear not.**

**Thank you all for deciding to read this today! Many thanks for your continued support and stuff. Let's-a go!**

**-Chapter XXXXX-**

**-Getting to the Bottom of it!-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"ARGH!" Snake growled/yelled as Zelda threw him into the pool in the middle of the cavern-like room. The rest of the boys, Vyse, Seth, and Henry, were cowering up against the wall in a little corner where they were inconspicuous.

Snake drifted through the air in a graceful arc, then gravity had its hold on him once again, and he slammed into the water with a full belly flop. The resulting thud made Seth slightly sick, since he wasn't quite used to this new type of violence yet...

"MY GUNPOWDER!" Snake roared, the second he got back above the surface of the water. He repeated his angry cry, then streaked back towards Zelda in a rapid breaststroke.

There was a flash of green light...and Snake was back in the middle of the pool. He shrugged and swam at Zelda again, and the flash once again put him in the middle of the room.

The three guys in the corner watched as Snake went back and forth in the pool, confused by Zelda's magic.

"...She's CRUEL." Vyse whispered.

"Is she always like this?" Henry, the shop owner asked.

"I'm guessing it's like some sort of chemical reaction between them." Seth sighed, "Like, Sodium and water..."

"And Snake's the sodium?" Henry asked.

"Yeah." Seth said.

"What are you people talking about!?" Vyse asked, "I caught the water part, but what the heck's sodium?"

Seth and Henry stared at him for a few seconds, and then slapped their foreheads simultaneously.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Everything was quiet inside the gummi ship as Fox focused on a landing spot.

"...You're sure we should land here?" He asked Link.

"How the heck should I know?" Link replied, "You're the pilot dude. All I know is that we need to get to the bottom of Lake Hylia and rescue Zelda and the others."

"Objection!" Dr. Mario shouted, "We can't breathe, and we all don't have a suit of Zora armor to help out either."

"Just hold your breath." Link said, smiling like an idiot, "If you can't breathe, don't breathe!"

Mostly everybody just stared at him like he was an idiot.

"I _might_ be able to hold my breath that long." Yoshi said.

"I don't need to breathe!" Kirby boasted, "I could go down there right now!"

"I'm sure I can come up with something for myself." Paul said thoughtfully.

"This still doesn't get us anywhere." Fox sighed. Matt shook his head, then suddenly perked up, and looked right at Kirby.

Kirby looked back at Matt, and his eye started twitching in nervousness. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Fox landed the ship in some woods at the top of one of the cliffs surrounding Lake Hylia. When the team had the ship well hidden, they approached the edge of the cliff, way above the water...

Kirby's eye was still twitching, and a few of the others looked freaked out as well. Paul looked relieved.

"Ok, so we all know what to do?" Matt asked.

Mostly everybody shook their heads, looking slightly sick.

"Good. Kirby! Let's go!" Matt said. Kirby nodded, and inhaled everybody but Link, and Paul. Paul formed a little barrier around his head, and Link just used some of Zelda's magic to swap his clothes again. The trio jumped off the cliff, with Link and Paul doing swan dives, and Kirby just dropping like a cannonball. They hit the water and went under, but not before Kirby caused a gigantic splash, and then they were underwater.

Link grinned in earnest, then turned around and waved at Kirby and Paul to follow before taking off into the insane depths of Lake Hylia. It took a few minutes of hard swimming to reach a carved out area near the middle of the lake, a small area much like the entrance to a castle, or something to that extent.

There were a few pillars, and one of the walls had a hole in it.

"No zoras around here." Link called out, loud and clear in the water. Kirby stared, and Paul tried speaking with his bubble around his head but only made odd ringing noises. "Just follow me, and keep close." was all the Hylian said before darting off into the cave.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Yeah, Colonel." A soldier said. He was speaking into a radio, and obviously conversing with one of his superiors. "Our scouts caught them diving into the lake. I think that confirms your suspicions about there being a hideout of some sort at the bottom of the lake."

"Prepare the diving squad." The colonel drawled from the other side, "I want them ready before an hour passes. I'll be going along with them."

"Yes, Sir!" The soldier answered, before turning his radio off. He turned to his fellow soldiers, and said, "If anybody can take those smashers on in a fight, it's Colonel Verrel!"

"They won't know what hit them." One of the more scrupulous looking soldiers laughed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Inside the temple, Kirby spat out his friends, all of who were now slimy and dazed.

"That went well." Paul said after dispelling the air dome around his head.

"Don't get too cozy." Link replied, "Good 'ol Zel picked one of the best places in the world to hide."

"What place is this, exactly?" Luigi asked from the ground.

"The Lakebed temple." Link said, taking a look around, "You remember that crazy Morpheel monster we had to fight in our basement a few months ago?"

"You saying it came from here?" Luigi asked, surprised.

"Yeah...how in the world it ended up underneath our mansion, I'll never know."

"That's koo koo!" Pichu squealed, "...Whasit look like?"

BAP!

Kirby couldn't resist slapping her, and of course she zapped him back.

"Anyways..." Matt said, getting up and attempting to dust himself off, "That's the last time I ride in your gut, Kirby. Link, lead the way!"

"Why is everybody being mean to me?" Kirby mumbled sadly. Yoshi plucked him up off the ground with his nose, and walked down the tunnel with the little star warrior on his back.

A few minutes later, a few scuba divers broke the surface, and crawled out cautiously. Once they were sure nobody was in the vicinity they reached back into the water and pulled out a big scuba diver.

He made an unnecessary show of taking his mask off, which revealed a bronze skinned, gaunt face with dirty blond hair. His eyes were somewhat small in his head, and very black. He was also pretty ripped.

"Let's just make quick work of them and report back to base, shall we?" Verrel sighed in a low, bored voice, "I don't like taking up a whole day on a useless mission."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Zelda was on top of Snake, all personal dignity thrown aside. She was busy slapping, punching, biting, and mauling the heck out of the mercenary.

Snake, who was unused to this type of torture, tried desperately to crawl away and nurse his bruises but to no avail.

The rest of the guys were still in the corner of the room, watching the one-sided exchange of blows.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

After climbing to the top of a waterfall-ridden staircase of rock platforms, the team stepped through a doorway into a hallway. It was made of a metal netting of some sort, which was very sturdy and much like normal flooring except for the holes. It was cold and misty in the room, and there was a huge river of water below, roaring along a channel that was impossibly deep.

They walked across and entered another door, which led them into a large, cylindrical tower type room. In front of them was a staircase with a chandelier up above it, and there were two floors in the room.

"This place is a lot like a palace of some sort." Matt said, stepping to the front of the team to look around.

"Maybe it is." Link said, "I'll have to ask the next Zora I see about that."

"This place is so wet!" Pichu complained as she shook a cloud of moisture from her fur coat.

"So?" Kirby asked, "It's as good a hiding place as any! I don't know where to start!"

"Lead on, Link!" Luigi declared, "You know your way around this place. We'll be right behind you..."

"Yeah, far enough that we can bolt if we get into a sticky situation." Ness said.

"Hey, what am I? Disposable bait?" Link whined.

"A good warrior." Matt said, "I'd take the point, but since you're the only one that's been here before, you DO have to lead."

"So I'm not bait?" Link asked hopefully.

"We're both gonna be bait...I guarantee that we'll be more than a mouthful of pain for anything that threatens us, though."

"Ok, I feel better now." Link said, smiling, "For starters, get on the staircase, this is gonna get hairy."

"Shouldn't you say wet?" Ness wondered.

"I'll say whatever I dang please!" Link growled, "Now get on the staircase before I toss ya there!"

"Ok, ok." The psychic boy shrugged. He walked to the staircase, followed by everybody else. When they were on the middle of the structure, Link shot his clawshot at one of the handles sticking from the ceiling above the top end of the staircase, and yanked. The whole structure quivered, and with a screeching groan, it turned on the spot and stopped after moving ninety degrees.

"Now we just go up there, enter the door, and keep going until we reach a big tower...thing." Link said.

Paul rolled his eyes. "That's helpful."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Verrel, they just entered the upper left door. Do we follow?" A soldier asked his commander.

"We wait a minute. And here, it's 'Commander' Verrel if you please." The big general growled in a calm, low voice. "Remember what happened to Bobby last week? I don't have any qualms with doing it to you as well. I command absolute obedience."

"Y-yes, Commander!" The soldier saluted while shaking, "I'll remember it!"

This guy was freaky, the soldier knew that for sure. Things were going to get ugly when he started fighting.

He didn't want to be anywhere near it, either.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Aw, come on!" Link yelled. "If me, the pretty normal human, can get across with a chain and claw, surely the rest of you can get across too!"

"I'll, uh...stay right here if you need me." Paul said, "I seriously don't mind waiting here."

"It's just a bottomless pit." Matt said carelessly.

"That's the problem!" Paul moaned.

"So? You can just fly over."

"Not here. The best I can do is glide. The energy in this place isn't right." Paul said, "It won't allow me to really fly. If I fall, I'm through."

"I'll throw ya, and you glide." Kirby suggested.

"Wai-No, stop!"

Kirby grabbed the swordsman by the waist, and chucked him over the chasm like a spear. With no other options, Paul did as he was told and glided from the highest point of his trajectory. He landed on his feet with a thump next to Link, and a minute later everybody else was across.

"Is it too much to ask that we teleport out of here when we're finished?" Paul asked.

"Quit your whining, baby." Ness snorted with suppressed laughter. Paul scowled, and Yoshi shrugged.

"I might be able to use Farore's wind. I dunno." Link replied, "Zel might be able to do it though. Ask her when we see her."

"I will." Paul promised.

With that, they entered the door, right into the tower they were looking for.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The room shook and rock fell from the ceiling from Snake's grenade, who had to dive out of the way of an exploding fireball and falling debris.

Zelda warped right up to him after her fireball discharged, and aimed a fierce kick at his shins. Snake danced out of the way and pulled out another grenade that Zelda blew out of his hands with a blast of magic.

"Stop trying to kill me, you hag!" Snake roared.

"Stop trying to blow me up, you slimy villain!" Zelda yelled back.

"I'm slimy because you dragged me through a cluster of seaweed!"

"I put you down there because you were attacking me!"

"I was attacking you because you...You just annoy the outta me!"

"Watch your language! There's people watching!"

"Huh?"

Zelda took advantage of Snake's momentary confusion and punched him in the face. He fell backwards and braced himself with his hands, and planted his feet on Zelda's stomach to kick her away. He then flipped backwards and dashed at her, and took her kick right in the back when she teleported behind him.

He smashed into the wall, and quickly spun to the side to avoid another fireball when the door opened up. Everybody froze and watched as a group of people wandered into the room in an orderly fashion. They lined the wall and stood at attention, allowing a big burly man with dirty blond hair to step inside.

"And who the heck are you?" Zelda asked, eyes blazing with unsatisfied anger.

"Commander Verrel of the GUN forces, at your service." Verrel bowed politely. "Unfortunately, it is my displeasure to inform you that I have orders to kill you all."

"I'd like to see you try." Zelda said coolly.

"You have to get through us first!" Seth declared, stepping in front of her and shifting into his robo form. He was decked out with a huge, red, high power laser cannon, a shining yellow bazooka, blue boots, and torpedoes on his back that looked like purple whales. Vyse drew a large cutlass that looked as if water were running down the inside of it, and Snake settled for a small dagger with a crimson edge.

"You'll be dead before you knew what hit you." Verrel claimed, "I can make this quick, or very very quick and painful. Your choice."

"Cocky." Snake said, "Why are all our enemies so dang cocky?"

"If you've seen me in action, I have every right to be." Verrel smirked, "En Garde!"

The four heroes dashed towards the general in the swimsuit, who merely looked like a model. He faced them head on, and chaos erupted in the room.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I thought you said this was the room we were supposed to find everybody in!" Luigi said.

"I only saw the vision once!" Link sighed, "There are two towers in this place, and we're at one..."

"Meaning the others are-" Fox started saying, but then there was a terrific shake of the ground, and everybody was thrown to the ground.

"What was that?" Kirby asked in shock.

"It was waaaaaay past the door we just entered!" Pichu said.

"It felt like it was on the other side of the temple!" Link said, "They might be in danger!"

Another shake and everybody was flat on their backs.

"Let's hurry, I have a bad feeling about this!" Ness said, "There's an odd energy..."

"I feel it too." Paul affirmed, "We have to get going!"

Pichu ran over to the door and tapped it with her paw, and it retreated into the ceiling.

"C'mon, what are we waiting for!? Pizza Delivery!?" She screeched. Everybody dashed out of the door, and into a room falling apart.

"The temple's collapsing." Link stated simply. "We're gonna have to be quick."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**I'm so sorry if this chapter sucked.**

**I don't have much to say...except I'm going to manage my hobbies better. I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting.**

**I'm not working on any of my games until I get a little bit of attention where I've been working, which will probably be never. Since all I'm doing now is sitting at home and rotting, lol, I've got all the time I need to write stories. Expect an update soon, or it's my butt on the line!**

**-With apologies, Shining Riku-**

**Like I said, 'spect an update soon! Now I have to catch up on some reading, and manage 200+ emails.**

**Bleah.**


	51. VS Verrel!

**Ha ha! Answers and Questions, glad you pointed that out. I didn't think of what I was typing there, heh...**

**We can all pretend that Zelda is a higher priority on Verrel's hitlist, but the reality of the situation is that I'm just a dummy sometimes...Oh well.**

**Well, everybody, it feels good to be back in action! Hopefully, you can find some extra humor in my stupid mistakes, because I find them to be funny myself! Keep on pointing them out if they're there. I need to know, in case if I EVER fix them, which I haven't been good about I'm sorry to say.**

**This chapter, we'll get a taster of Verrel's power. Just what is this man like, anyways?**

**Let's find out!**

**-Chapter XXXXXI-**

**-VS. Verrel!-**

"Now...Which of you go first?" Verrel laughed darkly, cracking his knuckles.

"I'll take care of this pig." Zelda said, stepping to the front.

"No, you're staying." Snake said, shoving her back and stepping in front of her, "We need you to warp us out of here if things get ugly."

"I don't need you, of all people, telling me what to do!" Zelda snapped, pinching his back.

"OW!"

"Snake's an idiot but he's right." Vyse said, "Zelda, you really do need to stay back."

"Come ON! Do you honestly think this man's dangerous?" Zelda scoffed.

"Don't get cocky." Seth said, "The cave and Snake might be getting to you, but don't let your judgment slip."

"He's right." Verrel laughed again. "I'm a much bigger deal than you think. GUN sends me in if they need dirty work done, and I'll do it too, that much you can count on!"

"Bring it on." Snake replied, "Or just get out of the way so we can find someplace new to hide. I do enjoy a good game of Hide and Seek."

Verrel crouched forward like a sprinter, and Snake merely turned himself sideways, still looking at the GUN general straight on.

The GUN general suddenly dashed, at a much faster pace that Snake expected of a man of his girth. Still, he dived between the general's legs, somersaulted into the air behind him, and emptied his pistol of rounds on the man's back. What happened then surprised Snake even more. The bullets exploded into a cloud of ash before they even touched him, leaving a black patch of soot on Verrel's swimsuit.

He whirled around and caught Snake's jaw with a fierce backswing, and knocked the mercenary into the cave wall. Before Snake could recover adequately, the general hoisted him up into the air by the scruff of his neck, and blasted him up into the air with a bone-shattering uppercut.

Snake landed on the ground with a thud, lifted a hand towards his opponent, and dropped unconscious.

"How's that?" Verrel asked, straightening the rubber gloves on his fists. "I don't mean to brag or anything, but you better come up with a better strategy than that, or you'll end up like Captain Pain here." He said, pointing at Snake's bruised body.

"Henry?" Zelda asked.

"Yeah?" The big shop owner asked, "I know I look muscular, but I don't stand a chance against this guy. I'm not a fighter."

"Can you do first aid?" Zelda asked, catching the shop owner off guard.

He scratched the back of his head a bit before replying, "Yeah, sure...I can do that."

"Then take Snake and get the heck outta here." Seth hissed, "We'll take this guy on and give you time to get Snake back to fighting form."

"On it!" Henry said.

He dashed forward to grab Snake, and Verrel lunged at him with an outstretched hand, meaning to grab him by the neck. Instead, Vyse intercepted and hacked at his arm with the massive water cutlass. The blow didn't faze Verrel, but it deflected his hand and the general smashed into the wall. While he was busy freeing his arm from the solid rock, Henry jumped across the water channel and onto the ramp that spiraled upwards.

Seth, Vyse, and Zelda repositioned themselves, cutting the general off from his quarry.

"You'll regret doing that, munchkin." Verrel seethed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back at the WRONG end of the temple, the team teamed up to cross the chasm, which was a hundred times more dangerous because of the falling rubble.

Link teleported everybody across, one a time, while everybody else shot down incoming boulders. By the time they were out of the room and back into the next hallway, they were filthy with dust.

"Gotta keep moving!" Fox urged.

Together, they dashed down the tunnel for part two.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Verrel made the first move. He clapped his hands together and created a transparent shockwave of energy, which the smashers dived to the sides to avoid. Vyse and Zelda dived to the right while Seth went left, and Verrel went after him.

Seth barely had time to land properly before the big man was on top of him. Verrel slugged him in the face, his fist like steel. Seth was dazed from the blow, but he quickly collected his wits and moved his head aside to dodge a second blow. He swapped his Recumen Ray for his Grendel Fist, and with an almighty blow he tossed the heavy weight battler right into the air. Zelda tried nailing him with Din's fire, but the fireball fizzled out when it touched his skin.

Vyse then jumped into the air and unleashed his Cutlass Fury attack and finished his combo with a heavy downward swing. Verrel flipped in the air and landed on his feet, and then agilely flipped backwards before dashing right at Zelda. He tackled her like a quarterback, and the force of his attack sent Zelda into flight.

She used Farore's wind and teleported before she hit the wall, and appeared right behind Verrel. She retained the momentum from the attack and flew towards his back, right heel sticking out and charged with magical energy. He easily sidestepped the clever comeback and grabbed her passing leg, and spun around on the spot while swinging her in circles before swinging her above and over his head into the ground. Zelda tried bracing herself against impact, and the sick crunch of her arm bones snapping echoed throughout the room. Then, her head slammed into the rock, knocking her completely out.

"And I'm not finished yet!" Verrel laughed sadistically. He picked her back up like a mace, and swung her around above his head before flinging her body at the two leftover smashers. Seth jumped and caught her, and with a bit of careful use of his jets he managed to rescue her without jarring her body.

While Seth rescued Zelda, Vyse charged Verrel and engaged him in mortal combat. He took the first swing, missing Verrel's shoulder by half an inch as the oaf leaned to the side. He brought his knee up to slam it into Vyse's unprotected abdomen, but the pirate quickly jumped on his feet and flipped over the outstretched leg. He landed in a crouch, and took another swing with his left blade at Verrel's legs. Verrel took the attack to his calf muscle and grunted in pain as the blade slammed into his leg. It bounced off though, without cutting his skin. Verrel quickly switched legs and punted Vyse into the wall like a football, and ran at him in an attempt to crush him.

Thinking quickly, Vyse used a Wevli spell to create a small rush of wind and water. He slipped under Verrel's legs, and the general lost his footing when he stepped on the water. He hit the wall head first, and held his injured cranium while Vyse gathered his wits.

Once the big man got his brain back together, Vyse was already attacking his back. He took a powerful swing straight to the spine, and let out a moan of pain before whirling around to punch his lights out. Vyse ducked the right hook, jumped over a sweep kick, and then got nailed by a backwards headbutt right between the eyes.

He staggered backwards a few steps, shaking like a leaf. His weapons clattered to the floor and he flopped over on his back, limp with unconsciousness.

"Heh heh!" Verrel laughed. "So far the score's 3-0! I've only got a few bruises but I can keep on going!"

"That's because you haven't messed with me yet." Seth said as he returned, having brought Zelda to Henry already. Verrel took a step forward and punted Vyse into the water, where he floated on his back like a dead man. The GUN general then picked up the big Sky Fang cutlass and gave it an appraising look. The next second, it landed in the rock wall across the pool of water, quivering from the impact and in the rock up to the hilt.

"Good sword, bad fighter." Verrel replied, shrugging, "Some people say it's the sword that makes the man, but it's really the man makes the sword."

Seth growled in response and stiffened, but otherwise he didn't react.

"Very well." Verrel said, seriously, "Once you go down, there's nothing stopping me from finishing the rest of you off. You're alone this time. No pressure or anything."

"You're going down." Seth said. His intense gaze was swallowed up by a silver helm with two wing-like protrusions sticking from the back, and a red visor slid down in front of his eyes. His right arm shifted back to the gigantic red laser cannon, and the custom robo warrior struck a battle stance before rushing into Verrel at top speed.

The GUN general caught Seth's chest and pushed against him, but even he couldn't push against a 300+ pound fighter going at 200 miles per hour. Seth rammed him right into the wall and blasted him with the Yeligar Bazooka, then flipped back to dodge a kick aimed up into the air. Verrel came out of the wreckage, covered in dust and as mad as a bull. His hair was sticking up straight from the electrical bomb.

Seth charged him again, and before Verrel could attack, he seized the general by the hair and jetted off into the air. After gaining in height about twenty feet, he plunged back to earth and slammed Verrel into the ground like an axe. Before the big man could recover, he activated the jets on his right leg and kicked him into a wall with a supersonic kick. The kick made him flip over, and when his body was aimed at the general he activated his other jet and flew into Verrel, spinning like a fan blade. He suddenly stopped the jets and landed on Verrel's back with both of his feet, crushing him into the wall even more. He hopped off and grabbed him by his swimsuit, then chucked him over his shoulder.

Verrel was still 'flying' above the water when Seth unleashed an unending barrage of lasers, torpedoes, and bombs. After a minute of fireworks, Seth ceased his onslaught, and expected a torched body to join Vyse's in the pool.

Instead, Verrel gracefully swan dived into the water, and popped back up with an excited look in his eyes.

"That was incredible!" Verrel laughed insanely, "I've never hurt so much in my life!"

Despite his comment, he was completely healthy, not a crazy lightning charged spike of hair disturbed.

"We're completely screwed." Seth gasped, barely audible. While he stood there, gazing at the general, completely unbelieving, Verrel got out of the water and smoothed his hair back with his hand.

"Now, let's get back to business." Verrel said, "I didn't come here for a fireworks show you know."

"Do your worst." Seth said, taking a stance again. _Do I even stand a chance against Mr. Indestructible here? I...I have to hold him off._

They stared at each other intensely, neither of them making the next move. Seth started getting paranoid about his indestructible opponent, and suddenly the gap between them seemed a lot smaller, closer. He could feel the end coming-

BAM!

Verrel WAS closer! That barely registered in his mind, and only after the general already pounded him in the chest with a bone-shattering punch. So much for holding him off...Now he couldn't even breathe because his armor was caved in on him.

"I'll make it quick." Verrel growled, "You won't even notice the transition between life here on Scum Bag Universe to Candy Land."

"Just hurry it up already." Seth coughed weakly, "Only, don't send me to Candy Land. I was never really big on the kid stuff anyways, cough chough"

"Hey, your call." Verrel shrugged, dragging the custom robo warrior up into the air. He tightened his grip on the boy's neck, causing his brain to erupt into sparks and panic from the lack of oxygen.

Just before he could drive his fist into Seth's skull and terminate him, there was a sharp screech behind him, and the stone door blew out of the wall, flying at the duo like a giant fly swat. Verrel simply stepped aside and released Seth in the path of the incoming projectile, and watched in fascination as the door struck Seth dead on in the chest, and carried him into the cave wall where it buried him in rubble.

"So, the Cavalry showed up after all!" Verrel laughed, ignoring the carnage around him. The main team wandered into the room, careful to avoid the bodies of the soldiers that the flying door had killed.

"The game's up." Matt declared, jabbing his only index finger at Verrel in defiance, "You're not going to leave here alive."

"That's what your friends said before I completely destroyed them." Verrel yawned rudely, gesturing to all of the bodies lying about, including Vyse's in the water, and the pile of rubble where Seth rested. "Just for the record, they pack a huge case of whoop-butt, but they lack that necessary kick. I could go a few more rounds."

"...Where's Zelda?" Link asked, completely numb.

"Oh, that princess?" Verrel asked back, "She didn't last two seconds against me. I sure hope you can do better than tossing a few girls in my way to stop me."

"OOOOOOOOH!! I'll roast you!" Pichu screamed, enraged by his slander.

"Chill!" Paul responded, grabbing her tail. He was peeved by the comment as well, seeing as he was a gentleman of sorts.

"This guy's got an ego that could sit on Godzilla and squish it." Ness said, shaking his head in anger and annoyance. Luigi nodded his head in agreement, but couldn't come up with anything smart to add.

"What's your beef with us anyways!?" Yoshi shouted, "At least we don't kill people needlessly like you do! You...You enjoy it!"

"So?" Verrel smirked, throwing his arms up in the air in mock shame, "is it so wrong to enjoy my job?"

"Killing isn't the best thing to enjoy." Kirby replied, glaring at the vile man in disgust.

"Time to put you GUN loonies in detention!" Matt said, drawing his Emerald Blade.

"Ah!" Verrel said, "I only see one loony, as you so kindly put it."

Link only stared long and hard at Verrel, completely overwhelmed by his emotions. It seemed like an eternity to him for his subconscious to come to a plan of action. It finally came to one conclusion: Kill. It burned through his body like a wildfire, and when his friends noticed the blaze in his eyes, and his limbs shaking with rage, they ran from the room in record time.

"Got a bee in your bonnet, Blonde?" Verrel laughed, "Need me to squash it for ya?" He cockily walked up to his next opponent, and prepared to clap Link's skull between his hands and shatter it when Link suddenly vented and screamed.

It wasn't a normal scream, either. It was angry, and sad at the same time. A dark aura formed around Link's body, and a blast of energy flung the surprised general backwards.

The darkness condensed around Link, which was then pierced by a single ray of light that completely blinded all witnesses. The light faded, and revealed Link standing in a white tunic with black pants and boots. He lowered his gaze on Verrel, who was now stunned into silence. He gazed back into Link's completely milky white eyes, and barely noticed as the hylian drew a gigantic claymore, a sword easily as tall as the man wielding it. The sword spiraled up into the air, resembling a double helix with the two criss-crossing blades that melted into a crazy sharp point.

"...Uh...Guys?" Kirby asked, "You seein' what I'm seein'?"

"Yeah." Mostly everybody responded, awed.

"Young Link told me 'bout this once." Ness said, "That's the form he took when he battled Majora's Mask with the Fierce Deity mask..."

"I think Link discovered his ultimate Dark Smash." Matt said.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Sooooooo...Short chapter, yes...I usually have this problem when I start new arcs. You can expect it to pick up, of course.**

**So, now that Link's crazy with anger and he's using the Fierce Deity form...what's gonna happen? Is Verrel so 'indestructible' that Link can't take him? Is everybody still alive? Find out next time!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**(Ha ha. Cliffy. Suffer.) **


	52. Link VS Verrel

**Ok, I'm back! Thank you, everybody, for the reviews! It's so funny how little comments fuel us writers at ...Pretty silly, if ya ask me, but that's it!**

**I appreciate it when ya take five or so minutes to tell me how I'm doing, and I can only hope it's worth it for you readers. Anyways, now...**

**This next chappy will probably be short in comparison to other chapters, seeing as it will focus solely on two characters beating the freakin' snot out of each other. The last time I tried this, I managed 4,000 words, and that was a last battle chapter. We'll be lucky to see 3,000 today, peeps. I hope I'm not annoying you by updating with small chapters...**

**Speaking of chapter length, are my chapters too long? too short? I can update accordingly if you people need me to. Personally, long chapters make me feel 'accomplished' if you know what I mean, but if they're too long to sit through, I can fix that. If any of you review this chappy, if it's OK I'd like some input on that.**

**Thanks again, everybody, and please enjoy today's slugfest!**

**(Oh yeah, and for those of you that know Roman Numerals, am I doing the chapter numbers correctly? I don't want to seem like an idiot, heh...Used to know them well, but I think I'm slipping a bit.)**

**-Chapter XXXXXII-**

**-Link VS. Verrel-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"TAKE COVER!" Luigi screamed at his team members. The second the door shut, they bolted down the hallway and dived for protection. The energy Link was emanating was chaotic and unpredictable, and they could even feel the anger and rage radiating from him.

He was NOT in a good mood.

Link glared at the GUN general through white eyes, eyes that could see things invisible to normal humans. He could feel pure energy pumping through his veins and his sword, he felt as light as a feather and strong enough to wrestle with even Atlas himself.

Link could see Verrel's aura around his body, something he had never been able to do before. It was like a cloud of blue flames, gently licking him but never biting. Then, he looked at himself and saw that _his_ flames roared and snapped at everything nearby, red with insane rage. A closer look at his opponent, and he could see that the flames made a barrier around Verrel's body...An impenetrable mesh of energy.

"You better be ready." Link snarled in multiple voices, "B'cause I am."

"I'm always ready." Verrel said, tensing his body, "It's not everyday I get to see people that think they're cool because they can change their appearances."

"Are you so _stupid_ as to think this change is superficial?" Link asked, echoing himself, "Foolish Mortal."

"Riiiiiiiiight...Let's do this thing already." Verrel said, rolling his eyes.

He moved to sprint towards Link, but before he could even put his foot down for the first step, Link bolted over, wound up a swing, and with just one arm, slapped Verrel into a wall with the flat of his blade. After the supersonic waves faded away, Verrel pulled himself out of the rubble in the wall, clearly dazed and surprised.

"I do like a good game of ping-pong." Link said, flashing a cruel smile. Before Verrel could retort, Link was in front of him again, clutching the sword with both hands. He slashed Verrel with all of his might, and completely blasted him through the rock wall and into a cave outside the temple walls. He fell towards the ground far below, and with a sudden flash of green energy, Link was above him.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

Link moved so fast the air around him caught on fire, and the latest attack turned Verrel into a meteor, blasting him into the rock. After the stench of ozone went away, Link gently drifted to the ground, and stuck his sword in the rock by his left foot.

"At this rate, a girl could kick your rear." Link scoffed, leaning on the hilt of his blade. He watched as Verrel crawled out of the hole in the ground, bleeding at a gash in his forehead. His eyes burned with insanity, and his mouth curved in a grimace.

"I've played enough games today, freak." Verrel said. "I've never had to do this for anybody before, but today, I'll make an exception!" With that, Verrel struck a pose, and started focusing a huge amount of energy. "True Power: Vorpal Shield!" Verrel exclaimed.

Space from around his body and faded to a blue color, forming a layer of distorted space around his body that looked kinda like light-blue gel.

Link raised his right eyebrow, and stood back up. "I'm impressed." He stated simply, yanking his sword from the ground and resuming a battle stance similar to Ike's.

"...Not." Link added. He dashed towards his opponent with another Sonicboom and swung his sword, which suddenly stopped short of its target. Verrel had caught the sword in just one hand.

"I forgot to say, this shield also gives me crazy good reflexes and speed." The GUN commander then aimed a kick at Link's stomach, who dropped the sword, stepped back, jumped and ran up the flat of his blade, and kicked Verrel in the face before he could plant the blow. While Verrel was still in flight, Link ran ahead of him and jumped towards him, spinning like a saw with a single tooth. Verrel managed to catch the sword and kick Link in the chest, launching the hylian towards the ceiling like a missile. He then tossed the sword at Link like a javelin, threatening to tack him to the ceiling like a piece of paper.

A huge rush of wind enveloped Link and he vanished, only to re-appear next to the general. He socked him in the face, jumped into the air and caught the sword while he was still stumbling, then came down with incredible speed. Verrel rolled to the side before Link could split him in half, then he clapped his hands together and formed a shockwave of light-blue energy. It slammed into Link and sent him flying into a stalactite, which knocked it loose. The falling rubble buried him, but the ground only served as his prison for a second.

"Nayru's Love!" Link cried. A large dome of shining blue energy formed around him, then shattered to form a swirling vortex of jagged, glass like shards of magical barrier. The swirling vortex shredded the rock to sand, leaving the hylian standing on a mound.

"Din's Fire!" Upon speaking the incantation, a massive, bright ball of flame burst from Link's hand, and rocketed towards Verrel. It smashed into him and exploded, sending him flying far away. Link then teleported over to him, and slashed away as fast as he could before the duo crashed into a wall. The rubble didn't even have a chance to bury them before it was vaporized by a punch from the GUN general. Link skidded backwards and stopped himself, leaving massive gouges in the ground where his legs were. They dashed towards each other again for another round.

Link flipped over Verrel and slashed at his back. His opponent caught the sword by swinging his arm over his head and grabbing it near his neck, then he twirled his body and rose above the hylian. His knee smashed into Link's jaw and smashed him into the ground, where he pounded him with his fist, pounding him deep into the ground. Link regained his senses and punched him off, then grabbed his sword back and swung it. A massive wave of energy ripped from his sword and collided with the GUN general. He was sent flying once again, but with a skilled release of energy he stopped his flight and landed hard on his feet.

"This ain't getting us anywhere." Verrel said, wiping a drop of blood off his lip.

"True." Link said, "I oughta just finish you off."

"Try me." Verrel taunted.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"They disappeared through that hole there." Ness said, pointing at the hole in the wall where Link and Verrel were last seen.

"I can feel how much dark energy he's using." Fox said, shaking his head, "At this rate...He'll be lucky if he lasts another minute."

"He can take care of himself for a little bit longer." Matt said, in a fierce tone, "Now's our chance to wrap things up here. This place is falling apart, and if those two keep fighting...Well, there won't be much of us left."

"I've got Vyse." Kirby announced, dragging the air pirate's body onto dry land, "...He's still alive, but dang he's busted up."

"And Seth ain't so hot either!" Pichu said, dusting Seth's face while Luigi and Yoshi removed the rubble covering his body.

"...What IS that guy?" Paul asked no one in particular, "By the looks of things, he trashed Vyse, Zelda, Seth, and Snake without even trying."

"Not the first time we've run into somebody super powerful." Fox sighed, "Just our luck, eh, chums?" He laughed bitterly.

"...Hello?" Somebody called out tentatively.

"Hey, is that you, Henry?" Luigi called out.

"...Well!" Henry replied, stepping down the stone ramp and into sight, "...If it isn't the guys that got me thrown in jail." He responded in a joking tone.

"Eh, no hard feelings, right?" Paul asked, sheepishly.

"And GIRL." Pichu huffed.

"Ok, and a girl." Henry added, "What in Heck's name brought you folks down here?"

"Obviously, this was intended to be a rescue mission." Matt said, "But it's not going so well, is it?"

"Hey, we're still alive. It's not over yet." Henry shrugged, "...Kinda got bad news, though. Zelda's really busted up, and Snake was knocked out with just two or so hits."

Everybody whistled.

"Snake? Out in _two_ hits?" Ness asked, "That's new."

"How bad is Zelda?" Matt asked seriously.

"Right off the bat, both of her arms and snapped in half, and I'm also pretty sure she has a concussion." Henry said with a grimace, "Verrel...He...kinda broke Zelda on the ground like a vase..." As if to emphasize, he pretended to swing a weight, and smash it into the ground in front of him.

"...GUN has to be stopped." Matt insisted, "They've always been a little self-religious about their job, but this? This is not keeping the peace. This is murder."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"HY-YAAAAAAH!!" Link yelled, swinging his helix sword. Verrel leaned to the side and shuffled just enough so that the sword missed by inches, and then he used the miniscule amount of time he had to kick the sword out of Link's hands.

Link whipped his hands back in pain and surprise when the sword flew from his grip, leaving his almost immortal hands numb. Verrel then gave him the old one-two and blasted him back into a pile of rocks, and followed up with a shockwave-based punch that pushed Link out the other side through a man-shaped tunnel.

Verrel leapt over the rock pile and aimed his knee down, prepared to drive it right into Link's ribcage. At the last second Link recovered and caught the general's knee with a single hand and slammed him into the ground, then launched himself through his tunnel and grabbed his sword. He was back up on his feet when Verrel destroyed the rock pile with a massive burst of energy, sending a wall of debris towards his opponent. Link simply blasted a hole in the oncoming wall of rock with Din's fire, and used Nayru's love to deflect another aura punch from the GUN general. Once the dome of energy shattered, Link focused his energy on the swirling cloud of magical shards, and drew them in towards his sword. The energy condensed on his sword and coated it in a transparent barrier, and with a swing he sent a massive shockwave of splintering energy spikes towards Verrel.

Verrel tried shielding himself with his arms, but screamed in pain as the energy pierced his blue energy shield and gashed his arms. He exited the other side of the storm, furious and in excruciating pain, his outfit ripped to shreds. Suddenly, Captain Indestructible wasn't feeling so cool.

Link sprang back into sight, and released a blast of blue energy shaped like a buzz saw. Verrel fired an aura punch at it and canceled it out, and destroyed every single burst of energy Link shot at him. When Link landed, Verrel dashed towards him and seized his neck, and rammed him headfirst into the nearest rock. He didn't stop bashing him into it until the rock was reduced to gravel, and repeated the process with another rock. When he was finished smashing the hylian into that one, he jumped into the air and threw him into the ground, where he stomped on him with the force of a speeding train. Then, he kneeled down and beat his face in with his fists moving like the blade of a jackhammer.

After a minute of the high-speed assault, Verrel picked up Link, who hung like a rag doll in his hands, moaning softly.

"You'll get yours, freak!" Verrel shrieked in rage. He tossed him into the air, and poured all of his might into his next attack...

Link came falling down, and Verrel slammed his massive fist into his chest, sending him flying fast enough of break the sound barrier. He blew through a few stalactites that were in the way of his missile trajectory, and skipped off the ground a few times before plowing a deep furrow in the ground that he rested in.

"...Yeah, see? I told you. You're just another freak that thinks he's special because he can stand up to GUN." Verrel sneered as he walked up to his beaten foe, "But you thought wrong." He added, as the cave started to shake harder and harder. It was falling apart under the stress of the battle it just witnessed, but it didn't daunt the blond haired man as he glared at Link lying in the ditch. "This is just a taste of my strength, worm. You fought, and you got beaten. If you thought I was big, bad, and tough, then you'd do well to just give up! Yeah, give up like the worthless, yellow bellied scum that you are!" He shrieked, spraying spittle everywhere.

Link lay still for a bit, then he lolled his head and coughed into his hand.

"What? Still alive?" Verrel laughed, "Tenacious, I'll give you that. Want me to smash your skull in and end the pain? Or do you want more of this?"

"You're just as pathetic as every other idiot I've fought." Link laughed weakly, "Listen to yourself talk. Is it all about looking good and crushing people that don't agree with you? That never got anything good accomplished, and it never will."

"What do you know about good?" Verrel sneered again, "All I'm seeing here is an idiot that can't take as much as a yes or a no from his superiors. Just lay in the dirt where you belong, worm, and let people like GUN keep the world in check like we're supposed to! Nobody ever asked you vigilantes to do anything, did they?"

"We're NOT vigilantes." Link said, angrily, "We're not just some local people looking to protect the small people. I don't think you get this, _Verrel_, but we fight for the safety of defenseless people worldwide. What did we ever do to you?"

"Good question." Verrel replied in a mocking tone, "You don't think conspiring with other villains counts as treason, then? You're all traitors to your people!"

"...Peh, what?" Link laughed, unbelieving, "_Traitors?_ Traitors, you have to be kidding me...What villains have I been kissing up to in the dark while you idiots have been dancing on your thrones?"

"We have the most irrefutable source imaginable." Verrel smirked, "You can't argue with a device that allows the user to look into the past, now, can you?"

"What device?" Link asked, shocked.

"Nothing any puny minded fool like yourself needs to worry about." Verrel said, "Our glorious commander is currently in possession of it. With this, we can see anything that has happened in the past, anywhere in the present, and even in the future. We can see anywhere in the galaxy. You can't escape us. And with that said...Heh heh heh...Time for you to die."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Zel! Wake up! Wake up!" Matt urged the unconscious princess. The temple was beginning to fall apart in earnest, and the ominous gravel falling from the roof of the room they were in only told them how close it was to falling in on top of their heads.

"Wait." Paul said, "CURAGA!"

He waved his sword over Zelda's wounded body, and the healing light sealed all of her superficial wounds, and gave her just enough vitality to restore consciousness.

Behind them, the team and Vyse, Seth, Snake, and Henry watched. Occasionally they took anxious glances at the ceiling.

"Mmm...Urgh..." Zelda moaned. She opened her eyes and winced as her arms and head exploded into white hot needles of pain. She clenched her teeth and hissed, but managed not to scream aloud.

"Zelda!" Vyse yelped, horrified to see her in such agony. Seth stuck out an armored arm and placed it in front of his chest, and held him back.

"Zelda? I'm sorry to wake you up after taking such a beating, but we need your help." Matt insisted gently, speaking into her ear. "Look at me, and look right if you can warp us out of here.

Zelda forced her eyelids open with all of her willpower, and twitched her eyeballs right.

"Good." Matt sighed with relief, "I thought we were goners. Hey, lend Zelda your power, everybody! She's going to need all the help she can get to get us out of here!"

"Where's Link?" Zelda asked, struggling to keep her voice level.

"He's fighting Verrel now." Matt said.

"No...He's not. His energy is fading fast." Zelda said, "Verrel's about to...Kill him."

"What?" Fox asked, "Link didn't kill him?"

"No...He barely did much more than all four of us did." Zelda admitted, shamed, "Verrel's too hardy."

"What can we do!?" Kirby, Yoshi, and Pichu shrieked.

"Just lend me your power, and I'll get us out of here." Zelda whispered.

"She's losing consciousness quick." Paul said, alarmed, "Do it!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

In Link's eyes, Verrel seemed to tower above him as he focused energy into the palms of his hands. There wasn't much light in the cave to begin with, but it all seemed to dim as he charged up the last attack that would ever hit Link.

_I'm sorry, everybody...I failed you._

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Zelda's body glowed with energy as her team mates infused her with their power, and when she sensed that she had enough, she began the incantation.

"Fa-Farore's..."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The ground shook with all of the energy Verrel had gathered.

Link shut his eyes tight, secretly cursing himself for not being able to face his end in a dignified manner.

Just before the GUN general released his attack, there was a burst of wind that surrounded Link.

"No!" Verrel cried, "I'm going to finish you!" He hadn't charged the attack up to maximum power, but it would have to do...

He timed it so that just when Link vanished into the portal of magic, he released his blast of energy into the wormhole. Unfortunately, Mother nature had timed itself as well...

A rock fell from the roof of the cave from the frenzied shaking, and just before Verrel released the blast, it hit him on the head and messed up his aim.

The blue meteor of energy ripped into the wormhole with a hiss, and just before it closed up, a long, high scream of agony ripped through, followed by a crackling explosion that tossed the GUN general on his back.

Even though the portal was long gone, Zelda's pained scream echoed through the cave, over and over again like a ghost...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Thanks so much for the reviews, everybody!**

**Heh heh...I really have nothing to say...again. Surprise, surprise!**

**Now, you can simmer in this Cliffy while I whoop it up somewhere else! HA HA! Ok, sorry, but this is the way it had to happen. I'll see you all next time! And thanks for reading. Here, take as many cyber-cookies as you like...**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	53. Schizophrenia

-Chapter XXXXXIII-

**-Chapter XXXXXIII-**

**-Schizophrenia- **

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

In front of the Temple of Time, back in the lost woods, far from civilization, the wind picked up to a screaming pitch, ripping the leaves off of nearby trees.

Then, a wormhole opened up and spat out a cloud of Smashers, spraying them to the four winds. They pirouetted through the air, spinning and slamming into whatever got in the way of their flight. Some landed flat on the ground, others lay draped on tree limbs like laundry set out in the wind and sun to dry.

Near the middle of the blast area, there lay two bodies, the exact same size, with the exact same wounds, and in the exact same positions.

Nearby, Link, who was tossed up against a slab of stone, returned to normal as he exited his more powerful dark form. Most of his wounds vanished along with the change, but not the pain. Every single bit of it remained.

"Gaaaaaaaah..." Link moaned, holding a hand to his throbbing head. He tried to uncross his eyes, but the burning in his skull was so intense, everything remained unfocused and blurred. He gave up trying to adjust to the bright light of the forest and closed his eyes. While his eyes were closed, images of his fight with Verrel drifted across his vision, and when he remembered the look the man gave him before he almost finished him off, it sent chills down his spine...Then he remembered being sucked into Zelda's teleportation spell, the rock hitting Verrel on the head and causing him to miss...

And then Zelda's scream.

Link's body went rigid, and then numb with shock. He jumped to his feet, no longer feeling pain, but dread. "Zelda." He croaked, stumbling about like a blind man, "Zelda!" He cried a little more urgently.

By now, mostly everybody was coming back to their senses. Ness and Kirby drifted down from the top of a tree while everybody else picked themselves up off of the ground, all except for _two_ people, one of them being Zelda.

Matt, the first to completely regain his senses, stiffened in shock when he saw the two bodies. Fox, the second to regain his senses, couldn't believe his eyes.

"...But I thought Sheik was just Zelda's alter ego!" He blurted out when he found his voice.

"By the looks of things, I'd say no." Paul replied.

"Remember how Zelda could turn into Sheik when she wanted to?" Kirby piped up for everybody to hear, "Somehow, She got split!"

Link, not believing the sounds pouring into his ears, frantically rubbed his eyes and approached Zelda's prone body. His eyesight was normal, but seeing Sheik's body laying next to Zelda's...was incredible and odd, to say in the least. When he remembered her scream for the second time, it all made sense...

"I was really far away." Link said, slowly, "How much energy did you give her to teleport us away?" He asked.

"If I read everybody's energy correctly," Ness said, "Then I think we gave her everything we had to spare."

"Verrel hit her with an attack meant for me." Link explained with a pained look, "He missed, and it looks like the blast entered the portal and hit Zelda when she was trying to warp us out of there."

"The shock, and all of the stored up energy must have caused the split, then." Matt concluded. "I think it's safe to say we're not going anywhere for awhile."

"Yeah, no kidding." Seth said, "I'm not eager to run into that Verrel character again...Dang he can throw a punch."

"And I couldn't even cut him with my sword." Vyse admitted, "To me, that spells failure."

"I'll summon Crazy Hand." Fox offered, "We can take some time here to recover...but Verrel, he's gotta be up to something."

"GUN usually sends a general if they have an important project." Matt said, "My guess is, they could have another excavation site in Hyrule somewhere, but that's just me. Link, is there anything GUN might want to steal?"

"...That's a rather vague question." Link moaned, "There's a whole list of things they could possibly want. Try asking Zelda that when she wakes up. Just who do you think I am, anyways? A genius?"

"An informed person, at least." Matt said, rolling his eyes. "Sorry, but I don't think blonds are allowed on the list of certifiable geniuses."

"Thanks." Link responded, sarcastically.

"Ok, stop the fussing." Snake said, rubbing his jaw, "I agree with Fox. We should set up a camp here and nurse our wounds while we come up with another plan."

"All in favor of setting up camp and sleepin' in Saturday mornings?" Pichu asked, raising her paw. Everybody raised their hands, unless if they were unconscious.

"Good." Luigi sighed with relief, "I've had enough scares for one day."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"General Verrel!" A solider acknowledged his superior upon seeing him, and snapped a sharp salute as the big blond man passed by.

Verrel stomped into the command tent, and scared the heck out of a few of his lieutenants, who were currently working on their latest project.

"Any orders from High Command?" Verrel instantly demanded.

"Y-Yes sir." The nearest lieutenant replied, "Our group has been ordered to relocate to Ground Zero, Hyrule."

"The base camp near Hyrule castle?" Verrel asked, gruffly. "The archeological dig site?"

"Yes, sir." The lieutenant confirmed.

"I never did care for musty old junk, anyways." Verrel grumbled. "Alright, then. Round up the troops; let's move out."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Later that night...

After they set up camp, Henry, Paul, Snake, and Link took Zelda and Sheik inside the ship and put them in the hospital room. Everybody else did his or her best to get comfortable on the ground outside, which was variable in difficult depending on where they chose to sleep.

"Snake, have you finished setting all of Zelda's bones yet?" Henry asked while he made splints for Sheik's arms.

"Yeah." Snake answered. _Although I'd rather put them backwards, then she'd look like a freak with reversed arms._ "Heh." He laughed at his thoughts.

"Once you finish Sheik's and Zelda's splints, I'll keep using Cure on them until they've healed." Paul said.

"What about you staying up all night?" Link said, tiredly.

"I stayed up late all the time back when I wasn't adventuring." Paul admitted, "Besides, I can rest afterwards. It's not like we'll have to move right away."

"Thanks for your sacrifice." Link said thankfully. "I'd stay up myself and do it, but I don't know any healing magic."

"Don't sweat it." Paul said, "...I might need a giant magic potion or something afterwards, though. This is gonna be a long night."

"No kidding." Snake said as he turned to leave, "I'm finished setting everybody's bones."

"When did you learn to do that, by the way?" Henry couldn't help but ask.

"If you break and arm and there's nobody else around, you have to know how to set your own bones." Snake said ominously, before he left.

They sat there for awhile, tending to the two wounded clones, before Link finally spoke up. "Tough guy." He said simply.

"I haven't broken any bones yet, thankfully." Paul said, "...I want to keep it that way."

Link laughed. "In this kind of business, Bro, your days are numbered. It's going to happen, sooner or later."

"Shut up before you get me jinxed." Paul moaned.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-Outside-

Ness, Kirby, Pichu, and Yoshi sat around a fire they built together. Each of them stared at the flames as they danced before their eyes, silently willing sleep to take them away from the world for a few hours of priceless rest.

Unfortunately, the excitement back at the now destroyed Lakebed Temple still had their blood racing in their bodies, defying any attempts to sleep.

"...We doin' the right thing?" Pichu suddenly asked, out of the blue.

"Why do you ask?" Yoshi replied.

"Well, we be fighting these GUN dudes left and right, and waking up crazy old dark demons...I don't see any good that we've accomplished." Pichu explained, speaking softly.

"Don't be silly." Kirby said, "We'd never attack anybody without cause. In case you haven't noticed, most of these GUN people are insane whackos that kill and capture people for no reason at all. They attacked us without reason, and now they're going and finding secret weapons to use against us."

"As far as we know, we didn't do anything." Ness said, "I WOULD like to know why GUN decided we were so dangerous...We still haven't heard any logical reasons to justify their...evils..."

"I got a bad feeling we're doing something wrong." Pichu said, "I'm just blabbering...Never mind me and my hunches."

"Don't sweat it, Pichu." Kirby said in a jovial tone, "We're all friends, and if you need an ear to blab in, I can keep secrets."

"I'd rather zap you, but I'll consider it." Pichu said, smirking a mousy smirk.

After that, things finally started to settle down for the night, and one by one everybody turned in.

Ness was the last one awake as he curled up in his sleeping bag. He lay still and stared at the flames until they finally died out, and continued staring into the darkness until his eyes drooped and closed, his troubled mind finally at rest.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next day, Ness didn't recover consciousness until noon, when a beam of sunlight peeked through the layer of leaves above and blasted him in the face.

He stirred a little, then sat up and yawned his sleepiness away. Once he was finished yawning, he stood up and stretched a bit to loosen up his body, and observed as people dueled around the forest area. Some people, specifically Snake, chose to sit up against a tree trunk and observe others as they battled lightly.

Link didn't sleep all night, but his eyes burned with fierceness as he went head to toe with Vyse. They both used sticks to battle each other to minimize injuries and bruising, and out of everybody present, Link had snapped the most sticks on his opponent. Off to the side, Kirby and Yoshi watched the heated battle.

"Betcha my plate of waffles Link wins." Kirby said.

"I don't gamble...But waffles are sounding really good right now. You're on." Yoshi said.

"If Link wins, you...Uh, you owe me 20 of your breakfast for the next two weeks. If Vyse wins, you get all my waffles for today."

"That's not fair." Yoshi said, "5 and I'll agree. Either way, you're going to get it easy..."

"Me, giving up my waffles?" Kirby said, his face blank, "You think this is easy on ME? Fine! I'll play you for two days of no breakfast for good ol' Kirby!"

"I accept." Yoshi smiled.

"HY-YAH!" Link yelled, bringing his long stick down on Vyse's head. Vyse thrust up both of his sticks and crossed them, catching Link's attack and stopping it short. He bent over backwards under the force Link applied, and then kicked the stick near Link's hand. It snapped under the strain, causing the hylian warrior to lose his balance and stumble forward. Vyse flipped backwards with his newfound momentum, then dashed forward and whacked Link hard across the shins. He danced backwards and muttered bitterly in hylian, and caught a new stick that Seth tossed to him from the sidelines.

"Looks like your waffles are gonna be mine." Yoshi snickered. Kirby gave him a foul look, and the duo resumed their battle.

Link came charging once again, swinging his stick with intense focus. His power forced Vyse backwards. Vyse continued knocking Link's stick away and deflecting it with his own two sticks, and when the opportunity presented itself, he attacked Link's wrist with his left stick. Link saw the sneak attack coming and quickly blocked with his shield, then spun around and knocked Vyse's stick from his hands.

Now reduced to one stick, Vyse bolted backwards to put some distance between him and his opponent in an attempt to give himself time to recover. Link then jumped high into the air, ready to bring his stick down on Vyse's head with a double handed strike, his trademark Jump attack. Vyse stepped to the side and swung his stick up like it was a baseball bat, and when the two sticks collided they snapped with a loud crack.

"Snap!" Kirby said. He and Yoshi ducked as a fragment of Vyse's stick hurtled over their heads and thudded into a tree behind them, barely missing them.

Both of the battlers now carried short sticks, tiny pieces of their weapons. Vyse tossed his stick aside and dashed towards Link, taking him by surprise. Link reacted by tossing his stick, which Vyse somersaulted over. He flew overhead, and landed next to his other stick which lay on the ground where Link had sent it flying. He grabbed it and rolled on his shoulder to avoid Link as he came in with a replacement stick, and stood back up in time to see the stick hurtle towards his face. He held his own up vertically, and shuddered under Link's latest blow. The sticks stopped against each other, stuck together in a cross shape. They struggled against each other, but they had obviously reached a blade lock.

That ended when Link's shield came in like a meteor, and smashed into Vyse's stomach. He fell to the ground, winded, and his snapped stick thudded into the dirt next to him.

"G-good fight." Vyse gasped, "Perfect way to start a morning, eh?"

Link smiled weakly, but didn't reply.

"You owe me." Kirby whispered, much to Yoshi's chagrin.

Ness sighed, and walked past another sleeping bag that was still occupied. He could sense Paul inside. _Must have stayed up all night trying to fix Zelda and Sheik._ Ness thought. His feet carried him towards Snake, who was now whittling away at a piece of wood with his knife.

"What are you making?" Ness asked as he sat down near Snake.

"Huh? This?" Snake said, holding up a misshapen block of wood, "...Dunno yet."

"Oh...Then how come are you carving away anyways?"

"S'my hobby." Snake replied, "I get bored, I start carving wood. Simple as that, Yuppie larvae."

"I am NOT yuppie larvae." Ness said.

"Just yanking your chain, kid." Snake said, shaving off another small bit of wood, "I'm not the best man to hang around. Tell ya what, I'll let you know when I'm finished, so you can see what I made, K?"

"Whatever you say..." Ness sighed, getting back up to his feet and walking off. He barely noticed where he was going, his mind completely elsewhere.

_Everybody seems to have unlocked some type of hidden power...I've got nothing._ Ness thought, bitterly. _I must be the weakest person here. I haven't even used any dark powers yet._

When he looked back up, he found himself standing in front of the gummi ship. He decided that nobody would miss him if he took some time out inside, so he tapped the door. When the ramp extended, he walked inside and shut it back up. The interior was dark, since nobody else was inside but him, and the patients...

The soles of his shoes rapped against the metal catwalk as he ascended the stairs, and near the hatch that went up into the cockpit, he turned left and entered the infirmary.

He was surprised to see Zelda sitting up in her bed, with a candle lit and sitting on the table by her side. Sheik was as motionless as ever.

"Hello, Ness." Zelda smiled warmly, "...How are you feeling?"

Ness cocked his head to the side, and decided to be honest. "Glum." He sighed.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Zelda said, with a slight frown, "How are things going? Is everybody else ok?"

"Yeah." said Ness, "I think you're the only one that got beaten to a pulp...Sorry..."

"What are you apologizing for?" Zelda said, "It's true, there's no shame in it. Maybe I shouldn't have tried going hand to hand with a giant wrestler."

Ness chuckled a little bit, "That may not have been the best thing...Is Sheik alive?" He asked.

Zelda didn't respond to the question for a while, instead choosing to turn her head and look at the person in the bed next to her. When she finally spoke again, she said, "Yes...Sheik is alive."

"...If you don't mind me asking, how'd you get split?" Ness asked.

"I heard Matt's explanation before I lost my grip on reality, outside." Zelda said, "He was right on the dot."

"Oh."

"I-is there a particular reason you brought us to the Temple of Time?" Ness asked another question.

"Mmm...It just seemed like the place to go." Zelda said, picking her book back up and resuming her reading. Ness took it as a hint to leave, and got off the bed where he was sitting. The candle light didn't reach the book's cover, so he couldn't read the title of the book. He walked over to the doorway, but stopped when Zelda spoke again.

"By the way...The next place we ought to go is Hyrule castle." Zelda said.

"Why's that?" Ness asked, curious.

"...Because, you can take my word for it." She winked at him, and pulled her book back up. Ness blinked in confusion, then shook his head and departed for the ship's exit, leaving Zelda behind with the mysterious Sheikah warrior.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**So sorry that my chapters are short...Can't seem to dreg up enough material to work with. The chapters ought to get longer after this, though, until of course I start the next arc. For those of you wanting action, it should start getting more actiony after this chapter.**

**Thanks for reading, everyone, and see you next time, I hope! Take care!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	54. Meet Sheik

Hello

**Hello! Sorry I didn't have notes at the beginning of my last chapter. (Though I'm sure some of ya didn't miss 'em. Wink)**

**I just wanted to say thank you, everybody, for keeping up with me. You can obviously see I've worked myself into a writer's frenzy of sorts, updating with a normal chapter just about every day. I'm glad to be back, and If I ever have trouble with laziness again...I'll keep on pushing as hard as I can. I've wasted 7 of the months this story has existed, and it is already taking me longer to write it than I did Supremacy. I've got a lot of work to do, heh...**

**And Answers and Questions! I assure ya, you're not annoying me with your questions. I'm still going to use everybody's normal final smashes, and also include their Dark Smashes. Just for everybody's reference, if I'm using a different finishing blow other than that character's usual Final Smash on Brawl, I may or may not use their final smashes, depending on what I feel like. Worry not...the final smashes have not been replaced by the dark smashes.**

**I appreciate your desire to help me with combo attacks for some of the characters, A&Q, but I think I have that handled already. One thing I feel the need to apologize for is how some of the characters are static: how they haven't increased in power for ages and seem the same every time you read about them. I'm finding it hard to sneak in the right amount of background info for some of the characters, so that you all can get a sense of their pasts. I'm trying to make them deep, but when the freaking character roster is over 60, things get difficult REALLY fast. I really want to develop the characters involved with the story, but like I said before, I need to work on that a little. I enjoy hearing what you readers have to say, and I AM open to suggestions relating to relations between characters, but I won't accept them if they interfere with what I already have planned.**

**I also realize I haven't given my readers much say in this story, like in Supremacy when you could vote which arc I followed through with next. This time, I'll listen to relationship requests. Now, before anything is said, for my story's purposes, Sheik is a GIRL, like Zelda. (No offense, I think Zelda switching **_**gender**_** to disguise herself might be going a little far.) Besides, I need Sheik to be a girl for a plotwise reason anyways. It's not that strong of a reason, but in this series, Sheik is a girl.**

**Now that I'm done typing your freaking eyeballs off, let's start the story, shall we!?**

**Thanks again for continuing to read my stories, everybody, even though I feel that I'm starting to slip in my quality a little bit...Kinda like the first one's better that the sequel, that kinda crap...**

**Well, anyways, ENJOY!**

**-Chapter XXXXXIV-**

**-Meet Sheik-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

-The Next Day-

Everything was calm and quiet in the camp.

It was already in the afternoon, and much like yesterday, people dueled, and those that hadn't learned their lessons about gambling were at it again.

Ness watched a heated battle between Paul and Matt erupt, while listening to Kirby make a wager with Pichu. Everybody else stood or sat in a circle around the imaginary battle arena, where the two fighters introduced their sticks to wherever they could touch on their opponent's body.

Matt held his stick in his left hand, and angled it so that it was perfectly parallel to the ground and aimed at Paul, who held his sword in his right hand, resting it against his leg and the dirt. They circled each other, looking for an opening, and at the same exact time they dashed towards each other and swung. The sticks met with a loud CRACK, and stopped short of their intended targets. They pushed off each other and lunged back, the sticks meeting with another loud snap.

Matt pushed Paul's stick aside and thrust towards his head, which Paul avoided by leaning to his left. He spun and swung upwards from below to knock Matt's stick out of his hands and open him up for another strike, but the plan was thwarted when Mat's grip remained steady. Matt jumped back and swung for his shins, one of the evilest places for an attack. Surprisingly, Paul raised his leg and blocked the attack with the very target Matt aimed for, kicked the stick away, and then struck the top of his arm. Matt grunted but managed to shrug off the blow, and came charging in with a spinning slash. Paul deflected the stick each time it came whistling in for the kill, and then finally stopped it dead with a double-handed block. He slid his stick down Matt's until it slapped his fingers on the other end, causing Matt to gasp and drop his stick. Paul stepped back a moment to let him collect his weapon, then went on the offensive. He came in with a fast vertical slash, which Matt countered with a horizontal block. He then deflected it to the side and poked Paul in the side, who then attacked the stick with a diagonal strike. His sword stopped upon impact, and he pushed forward to poke Matt hard in the ribs, and then took another step forward and slapped his left shoulder.

Matt tried a thrust and put all of his power into it, but that was the last move he got in. Paul parried the attack and got Matt's stick caught on his own, and with an incredibly quick twist, sent the genius' weapon flying into the canopy above. It rattled against a cluster of twigs and lost all of its vertical momentum, before falling to the earth and sticking into the ground.

Paul held his stick to Matt's head while his stick quivered in the soil next to him, signifying the end of the battle.

"Before you say anything." Paul said, "My only redeeming features are my physical endurance and my sword skills. If it wasn't for that, you'd have won."

"Mmm.." Matt said, holding out his left hand. He and Paul shook in a friendly manner. "You'll have to teach me how to disarm people sometime."

"If and when we've got the time." Paul replied, "...No hard feelings, right?"

"Nah." Matt said, clapping him on the back as he walked away. In the background, Kirby sullenly handed over a wad of paper Smash money to Pichu.

Suddenly, Paul sensed a power spike inside the Gummi Ship. He turned a concerned eye towards the space ship, a movement that Ness, Vyse, and Link duplicated.

"It's similar to Zelda's life force." Ness commented, "But...It's...a lot harder to read, now that I think about it." He said, his voice trailing off as the energy vanished completely.

"So, Sheik's awake?" Snake asked.

"Her energy just vanished." Paul said, worried confusion etched onto his face.

"Then let's go inside and get a look!" Seth said.

Link, Matt, Fox, Paul, Ness, and Snake approached the ship and entered once the ramp was lowered, and they made their way to the infirmary by feeling their way through the ship.

Link was the first to look into Zelda's room, naturally, and five other heads soon joined his by the doorway.

"You know I can see you, right?" Zelda said, flashing a gentle smile, "What's the emergency?"

"Uh...Um." Link said, looking around while trying to gather his wits, "We sensed Sheik waking up, but then..."its" life force vanished..."

"Sheik's a girl." Zelda said, blankly.

"Ok, "Her" Life force vanished soon after it appeared." Link said.

"When did you develop the ability to sense other people's life energy?" Zelda asked, genuinely curious.

"It must have been during my battle with Verrel..." Link said, giving a significant look to the people next to him. Snake, as usual, didn't have a clue what he meant, seeing as he wasn't in on the dark powers business.

"Hmm...Well, it must have been a false alarm." Zelda said, "I didn't feel anything. Sheik's just...laying there, like she has been for the past two days."

"I'm taking a look anyways." Snake said, stepping forward. Zelda fought back the immature desire to hiss at him, and watched as he approached the bed where a human shaped bump lay beneath the covers. He whisked the covers off in a flourish...and caught open air.

"Hello, Snake." A quiet whisper spoke into his ear. Suddenly, a dagger was up against his throat, and he reflexively tightened his neck muscles and froze. Nearby, Zelda doubled up with laughter, and the five guys at the doorway gaped in shock.

"W-We've been planning this prank a-all day." Zelda choked, struggling to regain her breath. The guys at the doorway couldn't help but snicker at Snake's expense, seeing as he had been completely fooled and surprised.

The hand holding his neck released and the dagger slipped from his neck, and Snake whirled around to see Sheik standing right behind him, staring at him with mysterious crimson eyes.

"Nice dagger." Sheik said, her voice as soft as a shadow. She nodded towards Snake's belt, where he had hidden his Assassin's dagger, his special weapon.

"How'd you take my dagger without me feeling it?" Snake demanded, "and how did you...leave such a realistic impression of your body in the covers!?"

"Trade secrets." Sheik replied jauntily, "Sorry, but I don't disclose my secrets."

"Meet my...Twin, I suppose." Zelda said, gesturing towards her former alter ego.

"How do you do?" Sheik asked, politely, "I know each of you, since I share Zelda's memories prior to the 'split', you might say. I especially remember YOU, Snakey, old boy."

"Don't you dare call me Snakey." Snake threatened in a low voice. Sheik suddenly vanished, only for her voice to come from behind his back.

"What'cha going to do?" She asked, blankly, "Catch me?"

"Funny." Snake said, rubbing his chin in thought, "I hate you the same way I hate Zelda. Some things never change, eh?"

"Funny." replied Sheik, "I feel the same exact way."

"It's not every day somebody can say they have a new sibling." Zelda said, "I'm willing to be nice if you'll do the same, Snake."

"Just for this one day?" Snake asked, "'Cause I'm not gonna promise ANYTHING if-"

"It's a lot of work for a girl to be nice for one day." Zelda smiled sweetly, while her eyes flashed like a danger sign.

"Yes, lots and lotsssssssssssss of work..." Sheik whispered.

"Bah!" Snake shouted, storming from the room in fury. One Zelda was bad enough, but two of them? He was going to go insane...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Thanks to the efforts of the Smashers, Zelda and Sheik quickly recovered, and by that night the duo was out of the infirmary.

Zelda was sitting with Link and the rest of his close group, when she suddenly tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Yes, Zelda?" Link asked, flashing a quick grin.

"I have some news to impart with." Zelda stated. Link noticed her blank tone, and realized she was dead serious.

"Ok, what's up?" Link asked.

"I had a vision while I was unconscious." Zelda said, "I know where you need to head next. Your mission will be at great risk, as will the lives of the other smashers if you fail."

When nobody replied, she continued, "GUN has another base situated at Hyrule Castle. They're digging in the catacombs for another of Hyrule's dark artifacts., beneath the castle."

"You don't mean...?" Link asked, his eyes going from serious to flat out shocked.

"They're after the Dark Mirror, Link." Zelda warned, "And Verrel is at the head of the group looking for it. Do you realize how dangerous it will be if GUN obtains that mirror?"

"Some of us are not so familiar with the history of Hyrule, Zelda." Fox said, "I hope you don't mind telling us about this."

"...Since I know all of you shall be headed for Hyrule anyways, because of GUN, know this." Zelda said, "The Dark Mirror is an artifact of terrible dark power. On its own, it is just a mere mirror, but if a magician of Ganondorf's caliber were to obtain it, they could create an army of reflections."

"Reflections?" Pichu scoffed, "I'm not scared of no reflection!"

"Pichu, imagine fighting yourself." Zelda said, seriously, "Or rather, the evils in your soul and body given life. Some people's reflections are more powerful than others...but I sense terrible darkness inside of you all. Should that darkness be given a mind of its own, I fear for the future of this universe."

"...That's terrible." Matt said, "I wonder if GUN is aware of how much is at risk?"

"That's just the thing." Zelda said, "I believe GUN is being used. Somebody knows what they're doing, and that Dark Mirror may just be step numero uno."

"That brings up the dig at Mush Mush Marsh again." Link said, "GUN was looking for something there, too. Do you think they found it?"

"They mighta been looking for that giant spider." Ness shrugged. Yoshi couldn't help but wince at the mention of it.

"But why?" Luigi asked, "That...T-that thing was completely useless! What would they have done with it? Feed us to it?"

"I can think of worse stuff than that, like, eating the _spider_ instead." Kirby said, gagging afterwards. Yoshi whimpered, and then let out a low, long moan and slumped to the ground.

"You're just sick." Ness said, inching away.

"Anyways." Link said, rolling his eyes. "Zelda, is there any more you'd like to add?"

"You already know what I told you." Zelda said, "That's the gist of it. Do NOT let GUN get that mirror. It will be more dangerous for you than the rest of us." At this, the team shared significant glances and winced.

Hidden behind a tree nearby, Sheik was perfectly hidden from everybody's view, and even her 'sister' could not sense her presence.

"...Hmm, Great inner darkness?" Sheik whispered to herself, "...I wonder what these people have gotten themselves into...?" She lingered a little while longer, and then melted into the shadows of the night, undetected.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Later, when everybody else was asleep, Sheik snuck back into camp like a wraith, dancing between the dying embers of leftover campfires. She made her way over to where Link was sleeping, and she stood over him for a moment before stooping and frisking his clothing.

She sighed a nearly inaudible sigh of relief, when she detected what she was looking for, and with a gentle and swift movement that even a fly couldn't avoid, she removed a mask from Link's possession.

She turned it over in her hands, and in the moonlight, the somewhat tulip-shaped mask glowed a gentle white, with crimson lines trickling across it. Sheik looked into the ever-seeing eye pattern directly on the front of it, the same exact pattern on the white cloth resting against her chest. She stashed it away, and slunk off to her designated sleeping place, with the Mask of Truth in her possession.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link didn't even notice the missing mask in the morning. Even if he DID notice it...he was too busy helping out with clearing the camp.

He was busy rolling up sleeping bags with Vyse when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see who it was and saw nothing out of the ordinary, but when he refocused his attention on the untouched sleeping bag beneath him, Sheik was curled up inside it.

"I cannot believe you fell for it." Sheik stated bluntly. "That trick is older than even Ganondorf is."

"How old is Ganondorf, anyways?" Vyse asked, hoisting two sleeping bags up on his shoulders.

"Old enough to be your great grandmother's great grandpa." Link muttered, "Sheik, quit clowning around and get out of that dang-"

"What are you talking about?" Sheik asked, leaning up against a tree and examining her fingers. "I hope you're not talking to random inanimate objects again, are you?"

"HUH!?" Link shouted, looking back at the sleeping bag. There was an incredibly life-like replica of Sheik lying inside the bag, looking up at him with glassy eyes. His head seemed to boil the air around him, but then he chilled out, pulled the dummy out of the bag, and then with superhuman strength, he chucked it into the trunk of a tree where it exploded into a cloud of magical dust. He turned to glare at his tormentor, but she was already walking away with Vyse, carrying all of Link's sleeping bags while the two of them hooted it up.

Link sighed in exasperation, gathered up the last of the sleeping bags, and walked off to the ship where the rest of the team was waiting for him inside.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back in the cockpit, the whole team minus Link was sitting in stony silence while the ship jetted off towards Hyrule Castle. Zelda's words of caution had them all on edge, and none of them liked the idea of fighting the evil inside themselves...an evil they now realized had grown with the exposure to the darkness emanated from the very demons they were fighting.

All it took was those three minutes they spent with Zelda, and now they were completely uncertain about what they were accomplishing, fighting against the demons.

Kirby was the first to break the silence. "...Ya know, I felt something was fishy about all that darkness absorption stuff." He said.

"I can't believe we didn't expect any side affects." Matt said, mad at himself, "I should have pit more thought into what we were doing."

"Don't be stupid." Fox said, "None of us knew what we were getting into, and it is all the more a reason to keep everybody else out of it...I don't think there's any going back for us now."

"We can't let GUN get that mirror." Matt insisted, "If it can really do what Zelda says it can do, then we're dead."

"I hate to say it but you're right." Ness said, "I can remember everybody's powers before the...corruption, and when I compare it to now, the only reason we've increased in power is in fact because of this darkness. It accounts for at least two thirds of our power level."

"And that mirror only takes that darkness and increases it." Paul added, "Fighting just one reflection would take all of our might put together. ONE reflection."

"I wonder if it would have any additional affects if it reflected me..." said Yoshi. "Because, you know I absorbed that Poison elemental demon...thing."

"There's no way to find out unless if it happens, which we must prevent at all costs." Matt said.

"I don't want any extra me's running around." Pichu whined, "Can you imagine how confusing that would be!? What if my reflection did something bad and got me in trouble, huh!?"

Everybody froze. Then, Matt recovered.

:"That must be it." Matt concluded, "GUN could discredit us by having our reflections commit crimes and then dispose of them, which would give them a legit reason to incarcerate us!"

"English, please?" Kirby moaned, "My head's hurting..."

"Kirby, it's so simple!" Matt sighed in exasperation. "They'll make clones of us, make the clones do bad stuff, and then arrest us!"

"Oh! I didn't catch that the first time." Kirby said, "That's horrible!"

"Not as horrible as what my mother would do to me if she was still around." Luigi muttered, shuddering violently, "If she even THOUGHT I was doing something wrong-"

"Game Over!" Pichu shrieked in his ear, causing him to jump out of his chair with a scream.

"Y-Yes, exactly that." Luigi replied, once he recovered his wits.

"Enough horsing around." Matt said, even though he was wearing a tiny smile, "I wish Link was in here hearing this...Does anybody know where he is?"

"Somewhere on the ship." said Yoshi, "Is that enough info for you?"

Matt shot him a withering look. "No."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sheik shrunk away from the hatch when she thought she had heard enough. She liked spying on people so much, and was so good at it, she often found herself doing it for absolutely no reason at all. She got a thrill out of doing it. She was so good at it, nobody ever caught her at it, which she got a kick out of.

They didn't know it, but Sheik had a plan rolling through her mysterious mind, a plan that, if it were successful, would get them out of their current mess without a scratch.

Unfortunately for her, she was so busy with her thoughts she didn't see Link coming down the low catwalk. He turned the corner to the hatch, ducking under the pipes, when he saw her.

"Just what the heck do you think you're doing?" Link hissed, quietly enough so that nobody in the cockpit would hear. He was suspicious of Sheik, a feeling he had no idea why it existed. She was a part of Zelda...wasn't she? Or was she a completely different person, somebody new to their world?

"Just scoutin' the area out." Sheik huffed, only having to think half a second for a plausible reason.

"You don't have any business being here." Link muttered, "Go...and play cards with Snake or somebody."

"If I get anywhere near Snake, I have the unbearable urge to kick him where the sun don't shine." Sheik whispered, accidentally releasing a tiny giggle.

"Hmm...Just like Zelda." Link replied, unable to contain a silent laugh. "Go ahead and kick him. He won't be able to catch you, anyways."

"He'd just corner me and blow the ship apart to get his revenge." Sheik shrugged, "I'll pick another more convenient time to pester him. I guess I get that from my sis, don't I?"

Unreasonable anger blossomed in his chest. "You're no sister of her's." Link hissed, "You're just...a split fragment of her personality."

"I guess I'm not the part ya like, then, am I?" Sheik asked, playfully, "Ya know, we could be In-laws some day. Ya might want to-"

"Don't you dare say another word." Link growled, thrusting his face against Sheik's and glaring right into her crimson eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. Me, and Zelda? It'd NEVER work out. Don't claim to understand things that you've never experienced. Get out of here."

Sheik shook her head, and scooted aside so that Link could get past to the hatch. Had she imagined that flash of purple light in his eyes?

"I think about it all the time, Link." Sheik whispered so that only she could hear, "I know more than you give me credit for...It won't work out because you won't do anything TO let it work out." She added, for her own benefit. She just sat in the darkness for a while, resting against the wall, and after she felt adequately rested up, she made her way down the walkway, deeper into the ship.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Well, I dunno what to tell ya, people! I appreciate you reading this...Though reviews seem to be a little less than they used to be...Sigh I'm not losing my edge, am I?**

**Ok, I DO have one question for you people. I'm entertaining the thought of starting another mini-series starring Snake. Has anybody heard of that TV show called **_**Get Smart**_**? It's really funny, and the best way I can describe it to you, is in one sentence. It's like James Bond going DUH, he he. The series would be called **_**Get Snake**_**. If anybody's interested, contact me via PM, or tell me what you think when you review. I'm 90 sure I'm not going to do it unless if some people here show an interest in the idea. So...basically, if you people would like me to, I'll start the series. It'd be one story, but with each chapter being an 'episode'.**

**Like I said, I appreciate the time you've spent reading this story, and I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did typing it up! It's worth the time spent making it if I know people enjoyed it. Now that I'm done ranting and everything, I'll See all of you next time, hopefully. I doubt any of you would be very interested, but I have another story I'm working on in the Nicktoons section. If you like some of their cartoons, It might be a nice way to kill time.**

**I'll see you next time, everybody! I'll be back soon!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	55. Indigo Reports In

**Hello, everybody!**

**Meh, I'll keep it short this time around. Notes were long last chapter, heh...**

**Ok, I'm serious about my Get Snake idea. Tigereth Kenobi already has shown interest in the idea, which I greatly appreciate, but for me to give fruition to this idea of mine, I need to know if anybody else is interested. If at least four more people show interest, I'll do it. You may either tell me in a review if you choose to do so, or in a PM.**

**And about my story quality, It may just be my self esteem deflating or something and I'm deluding myself, but if I really AM slipping, I'm counting on you people to point stuff out. I know for a fact I don't have enough character development, but...eh, I need help, guys. When any of you review, if you have any criticism of any kind, I want to hear it, as long as you people don't chuck flaming Molotov Cocktails at me, lol. Although, I'd probably listen to those too. I want this story to be the best it can, and for that I may need intervention. I also said I was open to pairings, which I was dead serious about. As long as they don't interfere, of course.**

**Another type of pairing you could say, is friendships between characters. Want Vyse and Link to buddy up and become pals? Simple. Stuff like that might even affect the outcome of some battles in the future, and these things can also help me figure out pairs of characters to make combination attacks with. So, if you have any ideas, I wanna hear 'em!**

**Eep! My notes are already on the verge of annoyingly long. Oops. Let's get started, shall we? And thank you, everybody that reviewed! If there was such a thing as an online treat, I'd say it was a review. Well, if any of you people feel like throwing peanuts to this elephant of a story, even if they're bitter, I need some input to keep this thing growing! Criticism is welcome, seriously. Now, for the story!**

**Oh, and the above comment is not saying I'll only update when I get reviews. I'm not dumb. I'm just saying I need people to point out faults so I can adjust. That's all! Enjoy!**

**-Chapter XXXXXV-**

**-Not Just a Clone-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

While Sheik was slinking about the innards of the ship like some forlorn wraith, Link popped into the hatch, uncharacteristically...Angry.

"Hey, are you Ok?" Yoshi asked in concern.

The odd resentment still burned in his chest, and without meaning to, he snarled his answer, "What do you think?"

Yoshi winced, and when Link realized what he'd done, he took his seat and sank into a stony, expressionless silence. The dino didn't ask again, and settled for looking outside the cockpit while wearing a frown. Matt gave Link an appraising look, and slowly turned to face his copilot once more.

"How long until we reach Hyrule Castle?" Matt asked.

"You know how small Hyrule is." Fox said. "From where we were, we could have just flown there in a minute. I've been taking...elusive measures."

"Like taking the ship under GUN's radars AND under water?" Matt replied, raising his right eyebrow.

"Yes, as you can easily tell." Fox said, flinching when a fish swam into the windshield with a THUNK.

"Ooh, Fish sounds good about now." Kirby said, rubbing his tummy.

"If you're so hungry, wait until we attack GUN's base, then you can take what you need." said Ness.

"Hey, Link?" Fox asked.

"...Yeah?" Link answered, glumly.

"If I'm not mistaken, there's a small cove nearby where we can put the ship. Isn't it shaped like a well?"

"Yes, there is." Link said, looking up from his feet, "If you take the ship...that way," he pointed a little to the right, towards a ledge above water, "You should be able to climb up the rock wall and come up on a small plateau. There's a path that goes in to Hyrule Castle Town's back gate."

"That will work perfectly." Matt said, "We'll blend in with the crowd. Ever since Dhaos threw almost all of the worlds in a blender, Hyrule's been getting lots of immigrants and tourists lately."

"Do we know where GUN's camp is?" Luigi asked.

"It's on the eastern plains of Hyrule." Matt sighed, "I still can't believe they managed to take up half of that field with their base. Not only do they waste time, they waste space as well."

"...Half...of the Kakariko Plains?" Link asked, blankly. Matt nodded, and Link sighed in disgust.

"So, what's the plan?" Fox asked, "Ness, you said Zelda said we should try to infiltrate Hyrule castle...because?"

"She didn't tell me." Ness said, shrugging, "She just...winked at me and smiled."

"That's what she does when she's seen something." Link said, speaking up, "The Triforce of Wisdom occasionally...well, makes her see visions of the future, or something like that."

"If we knew where to find that mirror, we'd be able to start planning right away." Matt claimed, "Link, don't you know where it is?"

"Yes, but I don't know how to get there." Link said, "It's located within a maze of catacombs beneath the castle." Behind him, Paul took in a deep, shuddering breath.

"Whasamatta? Scared?" Pichu asked, grinning evilly.

"Quit being such a pest." Paul moaned, "Catacombs, or even graveyards, just aren't my happy place."

"M-Me either." Luigi stuttered.

"I betcha it's plenty dark down there." Kirby whispered in Pichu's ear, which seemed to wilt upon catching the message.

"It's dark?" Pichu asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes, very." Kirby answered solemnly.

"Count me out of the catacombs team, then." Pichu muttered.

"I find the underground VERY unappetizing, and besides, all the good stuff is where GUN is!" Kirby exclaimed, wearing a smug smile and rubbing his tummy again.

"Then that leaves me, Link, Ness, Fox, and Yoshi to gather the mirror and destroy it." Matt said.

"But what about Zelda and the others we rescued!?" Ness asked.

"We're leaving them out of this, remember?" Matt sighed, "I'm pretty sure what Zelda said is true, and if it is, it's better that we handle the dirty work."

"Oh...When you put it like that...I see your point." Ness said.

"Now, how about we land and get this over with, before GUN discovers that mirror and destroys us with it?" Fox said.

"Best idea I've heard all day." Paul said, "So, I'm guessing it's up to me, Kirby, Pichu, and Luigi to visit GUN's base?"

"Sure, if you can handle it." Matt said.

"The nice thing about their soldiers is 90 of them are untrained and idiotic." Paul smirked, "We should be able to do this easily enough. It's what they get for drafting millions of new people and not giving them adequate training."

"Right." Fox said, "Just don't go overboard."

"...How do we sneak off the ship without everybody wanting to go? No matter what we say, they're all going to come...except maybe Snake. He usually listens." Yoshi said.

"The cockpit on this thing pops off." Paul said, leaning back into his chair. "That'd be the big blue button on the far right of the dashboard controls."

"Oh, so THAT'S what it does. I figured it was like the forbidden red button. Mostly EVERYBODY knows not to press the big red button!" Fox chuckled.

"That's kinda what it is." Paul agreed, "Good thing you're smart like that. Ya see, it's just as bad as a big red button, but we decided to make it blue 'cause it depressurizes the whole ship and sets off a really loud alarm. If you pressed that button while we were in space, we'd be mistaken for refuse dumped by a spaceship...which would kinda be the case."

"Hmm...Point taken. Can we disarm the alarm and use it to escape?" Fox asked.

"Why else would I tell you this?" Paul said, "Matt's a genius and a robotic wiz, and you're not bad yourself, Fox."

"Disabling the alarm connection should take all of five seconds." Matt said, "Move aside, everybody!" He got out of his seat and transformed his metal arm into a virtual Swiss army...arm, and removed the metal plating underneath the blue button with a multi-purpose screwdriver. Once the plating was removed, his arm went back to normal, and one of his robotic fingers extended and formed a flexible tube that then crawled down into the machinery. A little hatch opened up on his arm and showed a mini screen, and with some unspoken commands the finger worm thing found the wire Matt was looking for, and separated it with a tiny laser. He quickly retracted his arm and hid the screen once again, and snapped his fingers. "All done. Let's go!"

He slammed the blue button, and a tiny hissing noise sounded throughout the cockpit, and then the dome popped up on a frame of some sort, slid backwards, and then locked into place.

Fox tentatively peeked over the rim of the cockpit, and then hopped out onto the outer hull and scouted the area. The ledge was just three feet away from the edge of the ship, a small jump to the ledge granting access to the rock wall. He turned and caught Pichu as she sprang from the pilot's seat, and everybody else made their way out as silently as they could. When they reached the rock wall, which took all of two seconds, the lightest team members started climbing up first. Paul, Matt, and Link brought up the rear, and when they reached the top they took a few moments to dust their clothing off and make themselves presentable.

Granted, they were just going to take a walk through the town, but they didn't want to look scruffy and crumpled. After they finished fixing themselves up as best as they could, they took off at a stealthy jog, intending to reach town so they could vanish before their other teammates realized they were gone.

THAT particular plan was shot down before it even took flight. Nobody sensed Sheik listening in on their plans, and when they released the hatch and got out, she made her way down to the hold where the rest of the passengers waited.

"Zelda, they're leaving us behind." Sheik whispered from behind her head. Zelda smiled softly, and Sheik seemingly appeared from thin air out of her shadow.

"I knew they were going to." Zelda said, "I was just waiting to see what you were thinking."

"I'm thinking that I have a plan, one that will guarantee our success." Sheik whispered, so only her former identity could hear, "I'm going now."

"Good luck." Zelda said as Sheik sneaked off.

"What was that all about?" Snake asked, "I heard a noise like hissing."

"I was whispering to myself." Zelda replied, "I've just had a vision. Link and the others ditched us and are working on attacking GUN as we speak."

"How'd they get off the ship without us knowing?" Vyse asked, grudgingly impressed.

"They probably just popped a window open and crawled out." Seth suggested.

"Close." Zelda said, "They opened the cockpit and got out."

"Oh."

"I don't care what you people are doing, but I'm staying inside the ship." Henry muttered, getting comfy in his spot in the corner with a cushion.

"We didn't ask yeh to do anything." Snake said, "I'm gonna blow GUN's camp to Skyworld, if anybody's interested."

"I'm no good at sneaking around." Seth said, "How about I join you?"

"Zelda, you can get to the catacombs on your own, can you not?" Vyse asked, "I'll assist you if you'd like, but otherwise I have some mayhem of my own I want to dish out."

"Go ahead." Zelda answered, "I'll be fine. I promise."

"Cool. We'll see you then." Seth said, approaching the cargo hold entrance.

"Wait a moment." Zelda insisted, "The ship's being used as a submarine. You want to exit through the cockpit area or you'll flood the whole ship."

"Oh...Oops." Seth laughed weakly, "Let's go, guys, or the others will get all of the fun."

"There's no way they'll have more fun than me when I get my hands on their explosives." Snake chuckled darkly, massaging his hands.

"Chill, there, Snake, or your fiendish planning will get the better of you." Vyse said.

At that, the trio took off and exited the room, leaving Zelda with the ex-shopkeeper-turned-fugitive.

"I got over that stage a long time ago." Henry shrugged, "They'll get over it when they hit their later twenties...maybe."

"Not Snake." Zelda disagreed, "He's immature."

"You could say that." Henry replied. "Good luck out there. I haven't known you long, but don't go getting' yourself killed. You're a good lady."

"Thank you." Zelda said with sincerity, "The same goes for you. Stay safe!"

"I plan to." Henry said.

Zelda took in a deep breath, then followed the tail of the other guys as they made their way out of the ship.

"...Insane, they're all insane." Henry said when everybody was out of earshot, "...But perhaps that's why I'm staying with them. Who knows..."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Blend right in, eh?" Fox said, looking at Matt.

"I didn't know it was "Dress as a Famous Criminal" day!" Matt said, "Link! When did they start this wacky holiday!?"

"I didn't know of it until today!" Link said, looking frustrated.

"Heya, mister!" a little kid said. He was dressed in a little green tunic, white pants, and had on a green cap like Link. "Nice costume, dude!"

"And they don't even look like me." Link muttered under his breath.

"Who said you was a criminal?" Pichu whispered in his ear, "We're doin' our job, putting tyrants in hot spots and whatnot!"

"Meh, I'd rather eat them outta business, but they don't serve food." Kirby complained.

"I second that." Yoshi replied, "It'd be so much easier."

"Too bad we have to do it the old fashioned way then, eh?" Paul said.

"Let's just go before we get caught." Luigi whispered fearfully.

"Sure." Matt said, "...Let's turn right here."

They worked their way through the crowd, sometimes looking at passing civilians or tourists that faked the persona of some of the people they knew, often coming across their own doubles.

When they reached the center fountain, Link took his designated teammates aside, and Paul led the other three out towards the east gate.

"The entrance to the catacombs is inside the castle." Link whispered, "That much I know for sure. We have to find GUN's archeologists and drill them for the information, and then get down there and destroy that mirror. That's our primary objective."

"What about Verrel, if we run into him again? I know that cave collapse didn't kill him." Ness said. "I could feel his energy even after we teleported."

"We'll find something." Matt insisted, "These big invincible people always have some ridiculous weakness, like Achilles!"

"Bless you." Link said, blinking.

"I wasn't sneezing." Matt rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Achilles is a fictional hero that was completely invincible, except for a little spot on his heel."

"Well, that's just stupid." Link said, "Invincible heroes are boring in stories."

"Yeah, they are, but we didn't come here to discuss literature!" Fox hissed.

"Right, right." Link said, "We should be able to get in a tour group that will tour the castle. They did that in the good old days when Zelda wasn't a fugitive and there was a holiday of some sort."

Matt smiled. "That's convenient. For us, that is."

"Yes it is. This way, gents!" Link said, taking the lead and walking towards the castle's main gates.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Seth, Vyse, and Snake made their way over to the camp the hard way: Cross Country.

"Are you sure we have to get to the camp this way?" Seth asked, trying to catch his breath as the trio took cover behind some scrubby bushes.

"Yes. We run a good risk of being recognized if we head into town." Snake claimed.

"I don't mind this much, but aren't you being a little over-cautious?" Vyse said.

"In this business, too much caution is a good thing."

"Well, whatever you say." Seth said, "You're the man for the sneaking around jobs."

Snake chuckled silently, and then pulled out a pair of binoculars. He crawled deeper into the thicket, and peeked out the other side to make sure he was clear, and then got his first good look at the base camp through the binocs.

"...We're clear." Snake affirmed, "We can rush them from here, and they won't be able to do anything to counter us."

"You sure?" Vyse asked, "I'm all for going crazy, but I'm still sane!"

"Huh?" Seth said, looking at Vyse in confusion, "What you just said made NO sense..."

"You know what I mean." Vyse sighed.

"Let's go." Snake said. He crawled himself free from the bush, and prepared his assault.

Below, the GUN soldiers were walking about, moving equipment and supplies about to more convenient locations, when it happened.

There was a gigantic explosion at the top of a nearby hill, an explosion that curled up into the air like a fiery tongue. A figure appeared in the middle of the smoke and fired a high power red laser right into one of the tents, which exploded.

Pandemonium ensued, and soldiers scrambled for cover or weapons, depending on whether they were just bloody cowards or foolishly brave.

Seth soared overhead, raining explosives down onto the camp and taking out large sectors at a time, and provided enough distraction for Snake and Vyse to enter the fray. Snake revealed one of his most prized possessions: his Grenade Launcher.

"BWA HA HA!" Snake laughed madly, hoping to strike extra fear into the already scared soldiers below. He then started firing grenades as fast as he could into the mob below. Vyse rushed forward with his cutlasses drawn, and knocked soldiers out as he came across them, all the while dodging Snake's grenades if they got too close for comfort.

When he encountered Seth on one of his rampaging runs, he shouted out to him.

"Seth! I've got an attack we should try!" Vyse called out.

"So? What do you need me to do?" Seth answered, blocking a hail of bullets with an arm.

"I'm going to make a giant blast of water!" Vyse said, "Fly around it and made a waterspout, and then hit it with one of your lightning bombs!"

"Got it!" Seth said.

Vyse went ahead and summoned up as much energy as it was safe to in the middle of a giant gun fight, and when he had enough, he stabbed the ground with his Sky Fang cutlass and ran away from the blast area. A giant geyser of water shot up into the air, which Seth flew around at Mach 1. The water quickly swirled into a menacing funnel of aqua, which then started tearing its way through the campsite, adding debris to its inventory Seth then fired a super charged blast of lightning at it.

The fireworks were fantastic. The water twister continued to grow until it reached the actual size of a twister, all the while flashing malevolently with now-self generated lightning. The friction of all of the water and the debris and dust inside helped it to build up charges, which it then released in clouds of sparks and lightning. The sky grew overcast within moments, and soon it started to rain. Vyse added water to the storm for a minute before it became risky standing even within a few hundred meters of it, and then he and Seth fled off to the untouched part of the camp to cause more chaos.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Paul, Kirby, Luigi, and Pichu stepped out the east gate...and gasped.

When they recovered their senses, Pichu was the first to speak, "Looks like those that play nice lose, dudes. I'm not about to lose to some noobs that can't take orders!"

"We didn't order them to stay." Paul said, "This figures."

"TA TA!" Pichu squealed, bolting down the long bridge and headed towards the end of the tunnel.

"Hey!" Kirby said, running after her.

"We don't get paid enough for this, do we?" Paul asked Luigi, exasperated.

"We don't get paid." Luigi answered.

"Exactly!" Paul said, "Let's go, before those two do anything stupid."

They took off running in the direction of the now gigantic water twister that towered above the walls around them, and hurried to catch up to their more enthusiastic team members.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Verrel was sitting at a desk inside the main castle, rifling his way through digging reports, when he heard a footstep behind him.

"Who's the idiot that's moronic enough to approach me without permission?" He growled, clenching a fist and holding it up.

"It is I." said a figure. Sheik slowly walked out from the shadows in the corner of the room. Her face was completely hidden behind the Mask of Truth, granting her an ominous and mysterious appearance.

"Stand a little closer so I can grab your skull and crush it like a ripe apple." Verrel demanded.

"How about...No. Instead I offer a proposition." Sheik said.

"Sure, what is it? Humor me." Verrel said.

"I will work for you." Sheik said, "In payment...I require nothing."

"Right. After you fill out your paperwork, I'll squish you. You're working for those idiot smashers, aren't you?"

"...No, I am not." Sheik spoke in a quietly angry voice, "I wished to help them, but they spurned me."

"...Anything else?" Verrel asked.

"I know what you're thinking." Sheik suddenly said, in her disguised voice, "It's not gonna work."

"You're bluffing." Verrel smiled arrogantly.

"You think you can move faster than me." Sheik said, stating a fact. "I beg you to reconsider."

"I'll call your little bluff, then." Verrel smirked. He dashed forward to seize Sheik's neck and crush it, but before he even took his first step, Sheik was behind him, a small obsidian dagger biting into his neck.

"Mistake number...I lost count already." Sheik said, "You're very careless."

"Get back. NOW." Verrel demanded, breaking into a cold sweat. Could it be?

"Yes...I know your weakness, little man." Sheik said, to anger him, "I can read your mind, and I even know your weakness. Can't shield the back of your neck, can you? Afraid I'll take this little dagger of mine..." she said, forcing the blade closer until it bit into his neck and drew a little blood. "...And shove it right into your spine?"

He didn't answer.

"You would have had the chance to _kindly_ say no." Sheik said, "Except you were hasty to threaten me. Now, you have no choice but to employ me or die. Which shall it be?"

"I CAN shield my neck." Verrel growled, "But I'm still working on it."

"That's not the answer I wanted to hear." Sheik said.

"What's your name?" Verrel asked.

"...You may merely call me Indigo." Sheik answered, "All you need know is that I am a Sheikah, a Shadow Warrior."

"Right. Yeah, well, guess what, Indigo? You work for me now." Verrel said, turning around and smiling. He quickly seized the knife and crushed it in his hand, and dropped the dust to the ground where he ground it into the floor. Sheik slowly retrieved her hand, and bowed deeply.

"Wise choice, "General Verrel." 'Indigo' replied, "Happy to do business with you."

"As am I." Verrel said. "Your first task is to locate and obtain the Dark Mirror. Surely you, a Sheikah of all people in this miniscule and crap-tastic country, know what it is?"

"Most certainly." 'Indigo' said. "But I disagree. I find this country to be very beautiful."

"Yeah, well, keep your STUPID opinions to yourself and get me that mirror, if you're so eager to help!"

"What's the magic word?" Sheik taunted, "I forgot to mention I only do work when my employer is _polite_."

"...PLEASE!" Verrel shouted. " YOU!"

"Try again." Sheik said.

The one-sided shouting match went on for awhile, and passerby outside the room could hear the profanity that spewed from the general's mouth like burning lava to their ears.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**...Hmm, I thought this was a good time to cut this chapter and end it. Sorry, everybody, if it wasn't long enough.**

**I'm glad to see Supersmasher025 and Tigerith Kenobi around again! Welcome back! And as for NinjaSheik, cool to meet you! I'm just as glad that the rest of you usual reviewers are still visiting. I'm glad to know you guys are reading this story and still enjoying it. **

**As this story's author, I retain the right to spoil stuff as I please. MWA HA HA! Today you get a treat.**

**I want you to pay close attention to Link. Why is he so angry and sullen all of a sudden? I will tell you why: Those Dark Smashes are dangerous, especially the transformation ones. THOSE particular attacks leave a...lasting impression on the user. Fierce Deity Link? Changing into an angry being of nearly limitless power can literally sear one's personality, leaving behind some emotional scars.**

**To get to the point, any kind of transformation attack is going to cost the smashers...what it will cost them though, remains to be seen. They don't know this yet, though, but I can tell ya some of the smasher's transformations will be familiar with those of you keeping up with Nintendo's games, but a few of them might have to be creatively crafted...by yours truly. I'll do what I can to keep from making up stuff, but when I DO have to do it, expect...cool stuff.**

**Well, that concludes today's update in this story. It is nearing the super epic length of 200,000 words, two thirds of it's predecessor...! And it's taken me a year plus three or so months to get this far, thanks to my laziness. Let me know how I'm doing, peeps, and see ya soon!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	56. GUN Goes Down Under

**Yay! Some of my reviewers that have been missing for a few days have returned! Happy day. **

**Glad to see you back, everybody.**

**Now, LAZR CAT pointed somethin' out to me. I DO have trouble keeping everything dark all the time, and you're right about the pendulum thingy...I do kinda swing back and forth between moods. My bad. (Sweatdrop)**

**That's one thing I have to learn how to control. And, as for the pairings and everything concerning those, I am taking those into account, and we'll see how those play out.**

**I LOVE the reviews you peeps are giving me. For some reason now I feel like a doofus, but oh well. Thanks, guys! This arc's finally going to get actiony.**

**And 'nother good question? Why didn't Sheik just kill Verrel? Was she just bluffing and got lucky? And besides disguising herself with the mask, why did she take the Mask of Truth from Link? Can she use it better than he can?**

**If ya don't mind me saying this, DUH. Sheik's quickly proven herself to be a person of purpose, but who's side is she really on? And why can't Snake and the other guys just sit tight and do as they're told? If everybody behaved, this story'd be boring. Don't go and follow these dude's example, that's calling being disobedient, lol.**

**Thanks, everybody, for reviewing and/or reading! Let's roll out the next chapter!**

**BTW: Does anybody want me to bring back my helpers? Like, having Marth and those guys help me get things rolling? Just lemme know when you all get a chance.**

**I also put up a poll in my profile that lets you vote for who your favorite character(s) are on the main team in this story. The number of characters is up to 14, so why don't you guys pay it a visit if you have the time? I'd like to know whatcha feel!**

**-Chapter XXXXXVI-**

**-GUN Goes Down Under-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

"What the heck is going on out there!?" Verrel shouted, when he regained his balance from an explosion.

"The camp's being attacked by those annoying Super Smashers!" One of the general's lieutenants reported, as soon as he was within shouting range of his boss.

"Did you know they were going to attack!?" Verrel demanded, shaking an accusing finger at Sheik, or 'Indigo', as she was now calling herself.

"How should I have known? I've been on my own for days. Now, would you like me to find your stupid little mirror or not?" Sheik asked in an impatient tone.

"Yes, I'd love it." Verrel smiled, "Go fetch it now. The entrance is underneath the castle's center fountain. You'll know it when you see it because the place is a mess and there's a tunnel beneath the fountain."

"I know where to look, then."

"...Heh heh...Be careful not to look at the mirror...You just might surprise yourself." Verrel laughed.

"I'll be careful." Indigo promised. Sheik turned from the room and ran off in search of the fountain, while Verrel stayed behind. Slowly, a smile grew on his face, until his pearly whites shone in the semi-darkness.

"Lieutenant?" He asked, motioning for one of his aides to approach.

"Yes, sir?"

"Wait till she gets the mirror, and then kill her." Verrel said, "She's just scamming me. I know who she is, but I'm just playing along."

"I heard her say she can read minds." The lieutenant said, sounding and looking nervous.

"I just had my idea after she left." Verrel said, "You can catch her if you use the sound trap that dingbat of a scientist created for us."

"How do you know it will work?"

"I've had it demonstrated in front of me, and I found it very satisfactory. I assure you it will work. Trace Indigo's DNA signature and force the scanner to input the code into the traps, and then set them up. When she gets anywhere near them...ZAP! All of her muscles will turn on and paralyze her."

"Whatever you say, sir."

"To YOU, soldier, I'm not 'Sir', I'm General Verrel! Got that, scum?"

"Y-Yes, General Verrel! I'll get to it right away!" The lieutenant blurted, bolting from the room before Verrel changed his mind and smashed his skull in.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link's team was inside the castle, looking around for the entrance to the underground catacombs, when the whole ground quaked and dust fell from the ceiling.

"That's our cue to hurry." Link announced, "Looks like the attack on the camp has started already."

"SHHHHHH!!" Matt hissed, "There's GUN soldiers about. We have to act cool."

"Right."

They continued walking towards their destination, but quickly became apparent that all of the people touring the castle were running about in a panic. Link, Ness, Matt, Fox, and Yoshi then started running themselves, screaming like they were scared. When they ran for about a minute they came to the fountain area, which was abandoned by the diggers the moment the ground started shaking. They didn't want to get buried in a cave in.

Unfortunately the smashers didn't have that kind of freedom. They had to go down and destroy that mirror, or their journey would be just that much more difficult.

When the coast was clear, they ran for the entrance and went down the steps, unaware of the shadowy figure that slinked down the stairs after them. A bit after they went down, a group of GUN soldiers walked into the area carrying small devices that looked like small radio dishes. They went down the stairs and quickly set up a network of the devices, all of the sensor arrays aimed down into the tunnel. After that, they set up an antenna, and waited.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Those idiots!" Paul shouted, "If they let that tornado get out of control...heck it's already out of control! You go and find Kirby and Pichu, I'll stop the tornado." Paul said to Luigi, before taking off in a mad dash.

Luigi merely kept running into the depths of the camp, looking for any battles that might have broken out between his allies and the GUN forces in the area, while taking the occasional nervous glance at the towering pillar of whirling debris above.

He dashed around a corner right into a group of GUN soldiers that had barricaded themselves between a few tents, creating a makeshift fortress.

"There's one of the criminals!" One of the soldiers shouted, "Get him!" All of the men pulled out a gun of some kind, ranging from machine guns to rifles. Luigi found himself forced to dance away to dodge the hail of metal projectiles, and managed to find cover behind a nearby vehicle. He picked himself up off of the ground after he dived, and charged up a powerful fireball in his hand that sparked with lightning. He quickly jumped high over the car, and threw the fireball.

"Green Grenade!" Luigi shouted. The fireball impacted the ground in between all of the soldiers, and exploded with enough force to toss them all away and level the barricades. Luigi ran through the wreckage before any of the soldiers could recover and fire at him. He ran into another squad that was marching towards the sounds of where most of the battling was, but they decided that since Luigi was closer, he was a better target.

Wrong. He whipped right through them with his Luigi cyclone attack, and bowled them away to the sides while making a clear path between them. He kept running until he reached a wide open area where Pichu and Kirby were going at it, zapping, slapping, kicking, and punching the heck out of any soldier stupid enough to get close. A whole line of them charged the duo, threatening to overwhelm them, when Luigi came sliding into view. He chucked another Green Grenade that scattered the men like bowling pins, and slid to a stop next to the duo.

"Ooh, nice entrance, Mr. Green." Pichu cheered.

"I thought they were gonna shiskabob me on one of their bayonets!" Kirby exclaimed.

"We have to get out of here." Luigi said.

"Oh! Didja know!? Snake, Vyse, and Seth are kicking butt here too!" Pichu squealed.

"Less talk, more fight!" Luigi shouted, tackling them to the side when a regiment of soldiers fired upon them. They skidded across the muddy ground and into the space between two close tents, giving them just a few seconds of safety. "Quick, Pichu! Call down as much lightning as you can, and hang on!" Luigi said, "And Kirby? Get off of the ground."

"What're you gonna-" Pichu asked. Luigi grabbed her paw and crouched.

"SUPER JUMP PUNCH!" Luigi shouted. He rocketed into the air like he was fired from a cannon, leaving a surprised star warrior behind on the ground.

"Dude, that's just cool." Kirby said, looking up through the rain.

"Freeze!" One of the soldiers shouted. Kirby turned to see a whole group of GUN soldiers looking at him, guns trained on him. He inhaled as they fired and gathered up a huge amount of metal inside his body, and then swallowed it to become Metal Kirby! He turned into a sphere of pure metal like a cannonball, and the soldiers continued shooting him even though it didn't accomplish anything.

Way up above, Luigi and Pichu rocketed through the rain, and It was a few seconds before Pichu recovered her senses and did as she was told. Bolt of lightning after bolt of lightning struck Luigi, who seemed to catch all of the energy in his upraised hand. He slowly turned upside down, and started hurtling towards the ground, his fist glowing with a large amount of electricity.

"Shock Bomb!" They cried in unison. Luigi used his Green Missile attack and shot towards the ground super fast, and actually created a Sonicboom before he crashed. He hit the muddy ground, and a surge of lightning went through it in a ring-like fashion. All of the soldiers within fifty meters were shocked unconscious, and Kirby was accidentally magnetized by the shock. He shot towards a giant trick coming in with reinforcements, and punched a hole through the grill and right into the engine. The resulting explosion tossed the magnetic Kirby into a generator in the Mess Hall tent, which exploded and set off all of the gas used for the grills and cooking machinery. THAT particular explosion tossed the hapless Dreamlander into the tornado, which then tossed him into a giant rail gun. The gun fired a giant rocket-shaped bullet into the area where the rest of GUN's trucks were parked, and the shell went off with another explosion that flipped all of the trucks over.

While Hyrule went to heck around him, Snake was busy at work in the bomb supplies tent. He carefully placed the last stick of dynamite in place, and stepped back to admire the dynamic sculpture he had just finished. It was a crude replica of Michelangelo's David.

"Too bad this ain't gonna see the light of day." Snake scoffed. He took a match and lit it on his sideburns, and tossed it to the ground where it hit the fuse and caught fire. He ran from the tent and even kept running after he was outside the camp's limits, and didn't stop until he was on the hill.

He watched as the one-ton explosive statue flashed once, and erupted into a massive earth-shattering explosion that threw him flat on the ground. When the fire evaporated into the rain, there was a huge crater, a giant column of smoke, and a huge cleared out area of the camp.

"Heh, smashing success." Snake laughed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When he got close enough to the tornado to feel its irresistible pull, Paul left the ground with a great leap, and rocketed right into the grasp of the funnel of wind.

He rode the air currents up about a half mile, up to the tornado's halfway point, before using a burst of wind to send him right into the wall of wind.

PAIN! The water and wind whipped him numb in seconds, and he barely avoided getting brained by a random piano that shot past. He fought the circular forces of the tornado until he reached the storm's eye.

"...It's spinning counterclockwise, so clockwise I go." He muttered to himself, "...This better work."

He absorbed his sword's energy and watched as it vanished into a cloud of magic sparks, and started rotating himself in the center, his arms spread out. When he was spinning really fast, he shot a jet of wind from each of his hands, hitting the sides of the eye. slowly, very slowly, the storm started to vanish, and when it lost the strength to carry its burden, Paul was caught in a giant rush of water, mud, tents, stunned soldiers, tanks...everything you'd find in a GUN camp.

Everybody watched as a titanic column of water, mud, and debris dropped from the sky, and spread out like a tidal wave when it hit the ground. The resulting wave of destruction washed over the whole camp, leveling it in a mudslide rivaled only by a volcano.

When the mud settled into the plains, a few heads poked up amidst the mud, some of the spluttering. Pichu crawled up on Luigi's head and shook as much mud out of her fur as she could. The mud slid off of everybody else's faces, and after a minute everybody could recognize each other.

"...PTOOEY Who's tornado was that!?" Paul shouted, emptying his mouth of earthy goo.

"Uh, that would have been me and Vyse." Seth piped up.

"Next time you decide you can control the weather, think twice before doing anything this stupid ever again!" The mage knight shouted. "...Urp I think I'm gonna be sick...Burble burble" He sank beneath the gooey mud, a few bubbles coming up to the surface afterwards and popping obnoxiously.

"What happened?" Kirby asked, "After that blast of lightning hit me...everything suddenly got very bright and loud." He moaned, holding his round head with his stubby arms. In the background, a muddy hand shot up from the mud and waved about as if trying to grab something, and sank again.

"Somehow, dude, you blew up half the camp." Pichu replied, "You went, like, ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Right into a truck, which blew you up and sent ya into the Mess hall, which also went BOOOOOOOOOM! and then ya hit a giant cannon that blew up all of the trucks."

"Wait!" Kirby shouted, "The food! ON NO! IT'S DESTROYED! AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH!!" He screamed. He promptly sank beneath the mud, his arm the last part of his body to go under.

"You guys are a load of drama queens." Vyse said, "While we sit here and drown in this flood of quickmud, what should we do? Scream for help?"

"I think that'd be a good idea." Luigi agreed, his mouth just above the mud.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLP!!" They all screamed in chorus as they sank beneath the goo. In the distance, Snake watched them all go under, and couldn't help but chuckle as they made idiots of themselves.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Link and co. took careful, quiet steps through the darkened tunnels. The stonework was blue with age, and the catacombs themselves were a network of rectangular tunnels, all lined with the sarcophaguses of long-dead hyrulian royalty. The only light in the tunnels was coming from Matt's arm, which was lit up like a Christmas tree.

"This place is creepy." Yoshi commented.

"Of course it is." Ness said, "But why does it look like nobody's been down here yet? They just found it..."

"The might be afraid of plagues or something." Matt answered, "Too bad we don't have the time to worry about such things ourselves."

"I don't recall there being any plagues." Link said, "I think we're safe...well, as safe as you can be, underground, in catacombs at least."

"You know where to look?" Fox asked, "This place looks like it goes on forever and ever. If we don't know where to look...things might get ugly. I'm sure GUN knows we're in the area."

"GUN, shmun." Link said, "They don't stand a chance against us if they try attacking now."

"What about Verrel?" Matt asked in a serious tone, "I wouldn't be so sure."

While they walked on, Sheik lurked behind them, staying at a safe distance so that none of the light would reveal her. After they passed a nearby corner, Sheik dashed towards a brick in the wall, and grasped it firmly.

THUNK!

Link and Matt were the first to make it around the corner, and the first thing they saw was that a large stone block had been pulled from the wall, revealing a hidden passageway.

"That wasn't there before." Fox said, when he saw the passage.

"Did we trip a switch of some sort?" Ness asked, "...Could this place be booby trapped?"

"Good question...let's hope it's not." Matt said. He approached the hole in the wall and aimed his gun down it and shined a light. "Nope, nothing in there except that it goes into another hallway. One that's inaccessible normally."

"Then let's take it." Yoshi said.

"I'll go first." Matt offered. "I can shoot if the need arises."

"Then I'll take up the rear." Ness said.

Matt went in first, followed by Fox, then Yoshi, Link, and with Ness following last. They took a few moments to army-crawl through the small tunnel, and popped out into another hallway that turned left. They followed the hallway as it snaked on and on...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back at the fountain area, the soldiers were standing around the entrance, waiting for Sheik to come back up, when Zelda tore around the corner. She saw the soldiers, who in turn, saw her. They pulled out their guns and fired upon her without hesitation, which she countered by throwing out a dome of sparkling blue energy. Unfortunately for the soldiers, they were such good aims their own bullets pierced right through them, ending them within seconds.

Once the last one had fallen over dead, Zelda then dashed for the stairs. She was on the last step when it happened. There was a screeching noise in her head, and then she felt her whole body vibrate and go as rigid as stone. She could barely even blink of move her eyes. She lay there as a statue for about a minute, when Verrel stepped into her line of view.

"Interesting. We meet again." Verrel said, "I set this trap for a Sheik, but I caught a Zelda instead!"

Zelda just stared at him, unable to do anything else. Verrel stepped forward and grabbed her by her shoulder, and hefted her into the air.

"I don't get you little bugs." Verrel tutted, "You try to smash them, and yet, they come right back and annoy you some more. Thankfully, I have a use for you this time around. You'll make fine bait for your friends. Oh? You didn't know they were here? They're down in the catacombs right now with that traitorous Sheik."

"Mmmph!" Zelda protested.

"She tried to dupe me, but I'm not stupid." Verrel continued, "But now I have the trump card: you. They can't do anything if it threatens your life."

"Mmmph!"

"Now, let's go meet your friends, shall we?" Verrel asked, "Oh! Before I forget to say this, this is all just an elaborate plot that I schemed beforehand. You can't win against me."

"Oh, quit your lying, Verrel, you dumb sack of margarine."

"General Thomas?" Verrel asked, wheeling about in shock, "What're you doing here!?"

A tall, skinny man wearing a general's uniform walked into the room, and glared at the big blond general across from him.

"General Verrel, I am here on Superior's orders to assure that this plan is not gone to waste." General Thomas sniffed disdainfully. He walked up to the big blond at a leisurely pace, and uncrossed his arms from behind his back. "I see you're up to your usual shenanigans, crushing poor defenseless skulls between your fingers. My, you've caught a beauty this time, Princess Zelda, no less!"

"This is none of your business." Verrel growled.

"It is all of my business. I'm taking over from here, but I'll play along with this little plan you claim to have plotted beforehand." Thomas replied, "Princess Zelda, Be a dear, and say something. It is quite rude to play the silent game."

"MMPH!"

"That is much better." Thomas said, nodding his head. His cap accidentally came off his head, revealing tidy chocolate brown hair swept into a wavy design.

"You waste your time, Thomas." Verrel said, "You're not naturally beautiful like myself."

"I didn't come to argue with a large yellow buffoon." Thomas snapped, "There's a reason I'm higher up on the ladder of authority than you are...must I remind you why?"

Verrel growled low. "...Shut your prissy, trap, _Thomas_. Let's just get this over with."

The two GUN generals walked down into the labyrinth below, followed by a squad of soldiers with sniper rifles.

With the GUN generals on their tail, the smashers were officially caught between a rock and a hard place. Their situation was no better than before, and their task was now twice as dangerous than before.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Meh. I don't have anything to say, except THANK YOU, EVERYBODY, FOR THE REVIEWS!**

**I also want to say, I have a poll I REALLY want to see some votes in. Go to my profile page, and you'll see it at the top. PLEASE vote for your favorite main characters in this story! I'll set up a villain's poll as well once I have enough villains to stick on it. I also have two new topics in my forum, for anybody interested. If any of you want to talk with me directly concerning my story here, Corruption, you can ask me tons of stuff, and maybe I'll even spoil you if I'm in a good mood. Not much, though! You can also talk about pairings, and I'll even accept Limit Attacks! (Here's your chance, Answers and Questions!) I might be kinda picky about the limit attacks, though...I'm a really flashy guy, and stuff, yeah...**

**Tell me what you guys think, please. The next chapter should end up longer, seeing as how it will have lots of dialogue and action! More likely than not, this arc will end next chapter, HOW will it end, you ask? You can find out when the next update hurtles across the internet to your computer! YAY FOR TECHNOLOGY!**

**Ok, good night, and see you all next time! Many cyber cookies for everybody!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	57. The Dark Mirror

**Heya! Story put short, I was being lazy, distracting myself, and enjoying watching Heroes on DVD and working on a...well, simple ssb battle game. (It's nothing special. )**

**Ok, now I'm done being lazy. He he...**

**And Kbxshadow! I thought you was dead or something, lol! Good to see you back...you flooded my inbox with reviews. All I can say, is, wow. That was mighty swell of you.**

**And I'm also gonna report on the Corruption poll I set up. So far, the big favorite outta the whole team is Matt! Slam422, when you get a chance, give your alter-ego a good pat on that back of his. I was taken by surprise when he hit the top, I didn't know or think that OCs were all that popular, to be honest. Matt's a good guy, and I'm glad to have him in this story!**

**And as a final note on that, I'm super glad that anybody even voted for my character in the first place. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy! I'd love to see more votes in that poll of mine, so far only 10 people have voted, and I'd like to see more! For fun's sake, I didn't and won't vote because I CAN'T make up my mind WHO I'd vote for in the first place. Lol. Besides, I wanted to keep things fair, and I'd only be interfering if I voted.**

**As for today's chapter, it's pretty dang certain this is the finale for this arc. I'd have liked some of the chapters to be longer, but that's just me. Please, enjoy! This one's gonna be packed with fighting, and it will also introduce General Thomas, of whom we know nothing about except that he is higher ranked than even Verrel is. Does this mean anything? Let's find out!**

**And one last thingy! I have Wi-Fi! WHA HA HA! My wii friend code is in my profile. As for brawl battles and stuff, you'll have to make an appointment with me so I'll know when to expect ya. I'm not as good as I thought I was, and I learned that playing anonymous battles and stuff. Still, I think I'm tough enough! **

**-Chapter XXXXXVII-**

**-The Dark Mirror-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"MMPH!" Zelda shouted, muffled by her paralyzed tongue. Her whole body was still immobilized by the sonic trap that had been used on her earlier. Verrel was unceremoniously dragging her along by her hair, and she was already bruised and dirtied to the point that she looked like a homeless hobo.

"What was the point of dishonoring our captive again?" Thomas asked, walking behind the ogre-like Verrel.

"There's no point except for my own satisfaction, _boss_." Verrel replied, saying the last word with heavy, sarcastic emphasis.

"Ah, right. I forgot about your primitive, slovenly ways for a moment there." Thomas responded while idly looking at his hand.

"Cut the act, General." Verrel said, "You're starting to act like some narcissist or something, and it's scaring me."

"Then, should I say it's for my satisfaction that I do this as well?" Thomas asked.

_Get me away from these losers! They're driving me insane. _Zelda moaned in her mind. _I'd take Snake instead of them any day. Now I want to kick somebody._

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Further ahead of them, the team came to the end of the long tunnel and into a large room shaped like a dome, a dome that was carved out of what appeared to be blue earth.

Along the walls was a series of ledges like shelves, all of which carried long rows of mirrors aimed down at the very back corner of the room where a pedestal rested. The mirrors shone beams of light there, even though there was no light to reflect. Atop the pedestal lay the Dark Mirror, which was covered by a rough fabric curtain. Behind the pedestal, there was a large opening in the wall that led to a ledge gouged into a cliff. The team couldn't tell from their current position, but the ledge dropped out above a hidden lake surrounded by thick forest. It was beautiful, an antithesis to the object that slept there.

"We did it!" Yoshi exclaimed, "We got here before GUN did! Yahoo!"

"Quiet!" Link shushed the dino, grabbing his snout, "I can sense two super powerful people coming, one of them Verrel! If you value your life, shut up!"

"Yeesh, you could have said something." Yoshi whined.

"We can't take the mirror and run." Link said, "We're going to have to do something crazy if we want to win this round."

"Isn't that why you have me here?" Matt chuckled, "Leave it to me!"

"We need something now." Fox hissed, "I can sense them coming now myself. I don't like our odds."

"Wanna hear our chances, then?" Ness asked, "They're down the loo now, they have Zelda."

"So that was Zelda's energy." Link said, rubbing his chin, "...That's really not good-Hey! What's she doing out of the ship?"

"Did you actually expect them to stay behind?" Matt asked, "I sure didn't."

"They're getting _closer_." Ness sang in an annoying voice.

"I think I have it." Matt answered, "We don't have much time."

--

Verrel and Thomas soon walked into the room, with Zelda in tow quite literally.

"There's the mirror." Verrel said.

"Oh dear, I'm afraid we've been set up." Thomas chortled.

Just then, a few of the mirrors moved and blasted them with intense light and blinded them. Thomas kept laughing and covered his eyes.

"Do you scumbags remember me?" Matt asked, stepping out from behind the pedestal and grabbing the covered mirror.

"Of course!" Thomas replied, "Matthew Thomas Weddell! Your middle name is the same as my first."

"I'm not here to place nice, Thomas." Matt responded with an edge to his voice, "I don't know if you've noticed, but this is war, and we're done holding back."

"I see. What shall you do next, then?" Thomas asked seriously, "I see one option left-"

"And I'm taking it!" Matt roared. "CATCH!" He threw the mirror at Verrel like a buzzsaw, and so much force was put into the toss from his metal arm that the mirror actually whistled through the air like a blade. Verrel, caught completely off guard, dropped Zelda's hair and reflexively caught the mirror to keep it from breaking.

That was when it happened.

The canvas came off of the mirror in mid flight, and the first, and last, thing Verrel saw when he caught the mirror was his own refection. He screamed in agony as the evil contained within his body was sucked into the void behind the glass, and he collapsed, dead. His disembodied soul watched his body fall away from behind the glass, and was sucked into the pitch blackness.

Back in the real world, Thomas's hand shot up into his hair, and he yelled. "NO!!"

"And this is where I come in."

Sheik suddenly appeared behind Thomas and pulled out a needle, prepared to jab it into Thomas's neck. Nobody expected him to move with blinding speed and seize her arm.

"Tut tut, Sheik." Thomas chuckled. He swung her into the air and with a nearly invisible flick of his arm, she flew across the room and smashed into Matt and the pedestal. He dusted his hands off before replying. "That's just the move I wanted you to make. While Verrel's transforming, I'll just take this mirror, and get back to my escape helicopter while you have fun."

Nearby, Verrel spluttered on the floor and his eyes dilated. Thomas dashed across the room, grabbed the canvas, and then wrapped the mirror up and stood near the balcony. "This is where you lose, fools. If any of you try following me, you'll be dead before you even feel me breaking your neck." At that he turned his back to the group and jumped off the ledge. Matt shouted in anger and he and Sheik rushed to the edge to see him running down the cliff and then across the water below.

"I can take a few more hits." Sheik said to Matt, "I'll get that mirror back while the rest of you finish Verrel."

"Hey, stop!" Matt protested, but she jumped off before he could stop her, and she took off across the water at a speed that rivaled Thomas's. He pounded the ground with his metal fist with an angry grunt, and turned back to look at his new opponent. Link, Ness, Fox, and Yoshi stepped out from their hiding places and approached Verrel, who was now back on his feet and shaking.

Nearby, Zelda gasped and suddenly went limp, her muscles unfreezing. "He's dead, and the darkness inside him will transform into a monster!" She yelled urgently.

"First, let's getcha outta the way." Link said, grabbing her and carrying her away.

"No, you're going to need me." Zelda protested, squirming free from Link's grasp and landing on her feet, "We'll have to fight this monster like we used to fight Ganondorf: weaken it and then finish it with a light arrow. That's why you need me!"

"You know more about this dark mirror than we do, so we'll trust you." Link answered.

"You better if you want to live through this." Zelda said.

Verrel gave a beastly roar, and threw his head back with his chest thrust outward. A dark mist erupted from his mouth and poured over his body, after which it started turning black. His muscles bunched up and grew in size, making him look even more like Hercules, and he even gained a foot or two in height. He burst out of his uniform and revealed his swimsuit, which he still had on for some reason, and the swimsuit turned a menacing shade of violet. His skin turned as black as outer space, and once he opened his eyes, they were flaming red orbs of hatred.

"I'm starting to hate my job." Link moaned, striking a battle stance while everybody else pulled out their weapons and prepared for the battle ahead.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

With speed only an unnaturally agile sheikah warrior could muster, Sheik ran through the forest chasing after the elusive General Thomas. She could sense him up ahead, along with the mirror. The mirror's presence felt odd. Instead of radiating an energy aura, it felt like an empty hole in the fabric of space.

Being a fragment of Zelda, she retained a few of her memories, most of those that would concern a sheikah. Namely, all of the knowledge of Hyrule's darkest secrets that should be protected and guarded.

She wasn't going to let this skeleton get out of the closet this time.

Rushing ahead like a speeding bullet, Thomas came into view at an excruciatingly slow pace. He held the mirror underneath his left arm like a football. Sheik gathered a handful of needles between her fingers and threw them in a cloud that fanned out. If any of them hit Thomas, he'd be immobilized for sure...

He leaned over backwards, swung the mirror once at such a speed, a quick gale blasted the needles out of the air and knocked Sheik over on her back. She was going so fast, she slid right towards the General, who stood and waited for her to get closer before doing anything. She was still surprised and shocked when the mirror came whistling in for a blow, a blow that landed on its intended target.

Sheik crumpled under the mirror, and when Thomas whipped it back up and under his arm, her body was completely still and motionless. He allowed himself a quick laugh at Sheik's expense, and continued on his way. Nearby, the real Sheik stepped out from behind a tree and sighed. _I can't let myself get careless again. Too much is at stake._

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Soon after his transformation, Verrel's body radiated a blue energy membrane like his original shield ability, but it was many times stronger.

As proven when Link made the first move.

"Take this!" Link yelled, charging the Verrel Reflection. It looked at him with its flaming orbs of hatred, and then raised an arm like a shield. The Hylian warrior flew into the air and lunged at the beast with a super powerful jump attack, and when he brought his sword down to attack, it bounced off the shield with an eerie ring and blasted him backwards. The monster retaliated by grabbing Link around the legs and throwing him into the nearest convenient wall, where his legs stuck out from the forced entry.

"Somebody GET ME OUTTA HERE!" Link bawled, kicking his legs frantically. He attempted to push himself free by pushing the wall with his legs, but only Sheik could have accomplished such a feat. Yoshi was the first to reach him, and removed him by wrapping his tongue around his leg and yanking hard. Link landed on his butt.

Behind the duo, Matt, Fox, and Ness fought the beast off with a flurry of attacks.

"We can break his shield if we hit it hard enough!" Link yelled, "If we all use a final Smash-"

"Link, we're the only two here capable of that!" Matt yelled back, slashing at Verrel with his emerald blade. "The other team's got most of our Final Smash users!"

"We gotta try something!" Ness said, "Attacking with our strongest attacks might be what we need to do."

"Then let's do it." Fox agreed. He, Ness, and Yoshi grouped up and started focusing their energy while Link and Matt stood in front and fended the black beast off, and when they had enough energy, Link suddenly drained everybody's energy but Matt's and put it into him. Matt rushed forward and thrust his sword into Verrel, yelling, "CHAOS...PURIFYYYYYYYYYY!!"

His sword cleaved through the barrier and blasted right into Verrel's chest, where little white fissures spread from and covered his body. The monster had a few seconds to roar in agony, before he erupted into a cloud of ash amidst a bright explosion.

"That worked...pretty good." Ness said.

"I guess the purify thing worked so well because it was pure evil." Matt answered, "...That was easy."

"That was a first." Link sighed.

"I wish all our battles were easy, then we could eat and sleep as much as we wanted!" Yoshi squealed happily.

Fox then slapped him upside the head.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back on the Plains of Eldin, the smashers got themselves out of the quick mud with the help of a few fiery techniques, and Paul was hosing them all off with water magic when Vyse looked around and spotted a moving cloud of dust in the distance.

He zoomed in on it with his lens over his right eye, and discovered that it was _two_ clouds of dust.

"Somebody's being chased, thattaway." Vyse alerted his companions, pointing across the field. The clouds were way south, and were actually coming towards them!

"We can't see as good as you can, what with you having that tiny telescope-type-thing there." Pichu said, "Keep lookin'!"

"Ok...Wait...I see...A GUN general!? He's being chased by Sheik! And he's holding something wrapped in canvas!"

"Could it be?" Kirby asked in horror, looking Paul and Luigi.

"It must be the Dark Mirror!" Luigi exclaimed, "We have to stop that GUN guy!"

"I know just the thing." Paul answered, "Make sure you all have your belongings in a safe place! HASTEGA!"

A large dome of transparent red energy swirled around the whole group, and a cloud of roman numerals swirled about inside, losing speed until they stopped moving, at which the dome vanished. Now, everything seemed to be moving slower to the group.

In real time:

"Quick,runafterthemandcapturethemirror!Don'tlookatit,though,oritwillmakeyouevil!" Paul shouted in a rapid, high pitched voice.

"Gotit!" Everybody shouted. They rushed toward the clouds of dust approaching them, and aimed themselves right at Thomas, whom they had yet to meet.

He pulled a surprising tactic that shocked even the rapidly working brains of the hasted smashers. He jumped over their heads and forced them to split like Sheik was a wedge. They curled around and came on up behind her, and apologized in their fast-forwarded voices.

"Get him!" Sheik shouted, ignoring the rapid stream of English battering her ears.

"Fine!" More than half of them shouted, before they pulled ahead of her and went after Thomas.

"Oh, dear, more pests to exterminate." Thomas moaned in exasperation, "Fine, you asked for it. I declare an engagement between myself and your group." He stopped to turn and run backwards to face them, and continued running backwards super fast. "This is a battle race, you must stop me and defeat me before I reach my helicopter up north. Defeat me, and I shall relinquish this artifact, but I tell you now, you will FAIL."

"We accept your challenge, filth." Sheik gasped.

"Good luck, you'll be needing it." Thomas said, pulling back his fist. Before anybody could warn anybody else, he punched at super high speed and created a compressed shockwave of air. Paul fired his own wave to counter while everybody else dashed to the side and came at the Gun general in a pincer movement. Paul and Thomas wrestled with the super sonic blasts of sound, but eventually the general gained the upper hand and dispelled the mageknight's sound wave before blowing him into the sky. Seth and Vyse led the points of the group attack and rushed at Thomas from the sides, but he nimbly dodged the charge. The duo plowed into each other like crashing trains, only to be blown away by another punch that hit them up at close range.

Sheik grabbed his fist with her chain and yanked him into her arms, where she prepared to jab one of his pressure points. He flipped and catapulted himself off of her shoulders and jerked her into the air with him, and then spun around super fast and slammed her back into the ground. She teleported with a puff of smoke before she hit the ground and appeared above him, hurtling at high speed. Her heel smashed into his face and blew him out of the air, where he was intercepted on the ground by Kirby and his hammer. Kirby whacked him in the stomach and then brought his weapon down on his head, and while Thomas was flat on the ground, he power kicked him towards Pichu.

Pichu summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky to strike her, but Thomas regained his balance in mid-air and dashed across the ground using his momentum. He crashed into her before she could finish her attack, and worked her over with an unstoppable barrage of high speed punches. Seth flew in at Mach 2 with the aid of his Bluheim boots, and slammed the mighty Grendel Fist into Thomas, knocking him away from the battered mouse pokemon. Luigi caught Thomas by the legs as he flew past and performed one of the famous Bowser tosses, and chucked the GUN general straight into a nearby boulder.

Thomas crashed into it and split the boulder in half before he completely stopped, but he jumped back up out of the rubble, disheveled, angry, and slightly amused. The mirror still rested beneath his arm, and by some cruel cosmic joke it was completely unharmed.

"You are all pretty tough." Thomas said, wiping a drop of blood off his lip.

"Give that mirror back and you live." Sheik snarled.

"You ask the impossible." Thomas answered, "I'm no magic lamp, this mirror belongs to GUN and I am its deliverer. Know this: GUN does not take terrorism and villainy lightly, and you shall pay for your crimes."

"You're the terrorist." Pichu yelled, "You're the bloody murderers!"

"We gave you the chance to turn yourselves in quietly, where you might have had a chance to explain yourselves, but you fired upon us, and all of our actions hence have been in retaliation. Stop this fighting before we start pulling out the big guns."

"Big guns, as in where from?" Paul asked, "No offense, I'd have thought before now that you were playing with us, the whole of your company."

"It is all a matter of perspective." Thomas shrugged, "But I agree with you on the basis that we have hardly been trying up until now, and we have sorely underestimated you. We're ready to get hot, down, and dirty about everything now, though." He said, fingering the mirror lightly.

"Then let's get really dirty." Sheik whispered. With a sound not unlike the explosion of thunder, she drew a long, sapphire whip from her pocket. It cracked in the air from the force with which she revealed it, and the end came to a rest at her feet. Kirby drew his Star Rod, Luigi pulled out Thor's Hammer, Paul morphed his sword into its Excalibur form, Pichu crackled with fierce lightning, Vyse prepared his Sky Fang cutlass, and Seth armed his biggest and badest weapon, the Zelos Cannon.

"I don't have the time for this." Thomas sighed, rolling his eyes in extreme annoyance. "Dark Mirror! I summon your might! Judge these people that stand before me, and punish them in accordance to the evil in their hearts!" In his upraised hand the mirror towered above everybody's heads, and after his incantation the sky seemed to take on a dark maroon hue, which the clouds stood out of like black silhouettes. Suddenly, the canvas around the mirror exploded into a cloud of ash as a multi-directional beam of purple light erupted from it, and struck each of the smashers in the chest. They shook wildly as the beam coursed throughout their bodies, and as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The mirror shone with an eerie purple aura. The aura slowly brightened until it blinded everybody present, and then it vanished after a loud rushing noise.

Once everybody's sight returned, Thomas was gone, but around the boulder rubble where he should have been, there stood a doppelganger for every smasher standing there. They were perfect replicas of their real counterparts, except they were reduced to a grayscale range of colors, and their eyes burned inside their heads like embers.

"Freaky." Kirby gasped, slightly in awe, and fear.

"Things just got uglier than a baboon's rear." Paul hissed. "Fight your own clone and take them out, and whoever beats their doubles, go get Thomas!"

At that, chaos erupted as the two groups confronted one another, and so began the battle upon which the fate of the Smashers may rest...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Once the battle started, the groups slowly separated outwards as they dueled with their dark reflections.

Seth found it hard to land any blows on his dark double, who seemed to know more tricks with his own equipment than he did. Dark Seth seemingly teleported between the giant bursts of silver energy that erupted from his cannon, and when it was up close it blew him away with a Grendel fist and followed up with a hail of torpedoes. Seth bolted between the explosions and approached his foe once more.

Dark Seth attacked again with the fist, but Seth dropped for a sliding kick, and shot across the ground like a missile. Dark Seth twirled into the air, out of control, where Seth shot him with a bazooka blast and immobilized him. He jumped up and spiked him into the ground with an axe kick and peppered him with a rapid barrage of silver energy in the form of cannonballs. His doppelganger soon got back to his feet, even while he was under fire, and raised his gun which had taken on the form of a black dinosaur head. A gigantic blast of negative energy exploded from it and screamed toward Seth.

He air dashed out of the way and then straight towards his foe, and slammed into him at top speed. They dug a trench in the ground while they skidded, punching the heck out of each other. Dark Seth finally wedged his legs up against Seth's chest and kicked him into the air before hitting him with a charge attack that knocked the wind out of him. He hurtled towards the ground where Dark Seth dashed up to him and unleashed another flurry of punches and kicks before blasting him away once more.

While he was enduring the attacks, Seth gradually and stealthily focused his energy, and when he was flying away his Zelos Cannon suddenly flashed as bright as a star, and spewed out a massive silver ray. Dark Seth took the full power of the blast, and after weathering the attack for five seconds he exploded into ash.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Vyse and his clone clashed wildly, Sky Fang cutlass bouncing off a dark reflection of itself. They exchanged many blows before coming to a double blade lock that Dark Vyse won by kicking Vyse in the chest. He stumbled backwards and struck a counter stance just as his opponent slashed for a killing blow. He deflected the attack and sliced clean through his opponent's shoulder. The arm re-attached itself before gravity could pull it away, and Dark Vyse slammed Vyse in the chest with the hilt of its sword. He absorbed the blow by flipping backwards and landing on his feet, and then he dashed back up to his opponent and scored three consecutive hits.

While Dark Vyse tried to regain his bearings, Vyse lunged into the air and focused his energy. A dark, spiraling storm cloud formed above his head, which charged his weapons with massive lightning energy.

"Rain of Swords!" Vyse cried. He aimed his cutlass at his foe and fired a continuous stream of lightning charged sword beams. Dark Vyse managed to deflect a few of the beams but most of them hit him and left him badly burnt, but still capable of battle. Vyse landed again and aimed a water shockwave at his opponent who slashed right through it and charged him. The swords collided again but Vyse spun around behind him and stabbed him in the ribs with his smaller sword before decapitating him. Dark Vyse's body exploded into yet another cloud of ash, before his head even hit the ground.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sheik and Dark Sheik ran in a circle across from each other, running at such a speed a small whirlwind formed around them. They dashed at each other from time to time and attempted to punch or kick the other, only to be thwarted. Every time they met they created a Sonicboom that blasted the whirlwind apart, only for it to reform after they started running again. Finally Sheik drew the Hydra Whip she almost used on Thomas earlier, and lashed out at her dark double with it. Dark Sheik stopped and moved her arm so that the nine tendrils erupting from the main whip wrapped around her arm, and with a powerful jerk she yanked Sheik towards herself. Sheik flipped in the air and kicked at her foe, which was also blocked. With one foot on the ground, Sheik did a vertical split with her legs, the grabbed foot going up in the air. Dark Sheik was tossed upward into the air where Sheik peppered her with needles, and finished by spinning her around above her head before bashing her double into the ground.

Another jerk freed the whip, and Sheik used the momentum to strike again. Nine angry gashes appeared in Dark Sheik's clothes and wrappings, underneath which lay bloodless wounds. Dark Sheik pulled out some needles of her own and spat on them before throwing them at her foe. Sheik flipped and bounded about, dodging every needle thrown. The spitty needles sank into the grass nearby, and killed it with poison.

Once finished, Dark Sheik quickly drew a kunai and slashed at Sheik at insane speed. Sheik disarmed her with another fierce crack of the whip. Another crack sent her flying backward, and one last crack, where all of the nine points stabbed into Dark Sheik's neck, finished her off. Dark Sheik slumped backwards and fell down, and ended up leaving behind a human-shaped mask of ash.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Everybody else's experience was much, much different.

Pichu went head to head with her double, quite literally, and was overpowered instantly. Dark Pichu shoved her into the ground like a hot rivet and pulled her out by her ears, and spun around super fast before tossing her straight through the pile of rubble.

Then she ran around and intercepted the Pichu missile and blasted her with a huge amount of dark lightning. Pichu slammed into the ground with a boom, and valiantly got back to her feet despite immense pain.

"We pokemon use berries all of the time." Pichu managed to say, all the while grinning in pain. "Meet my backup! A Magi Berry!" She plucked a pale green glowing grape-like fruit from who-knows-where and downed it in a bite, and started glowing fiercely with lightning. "Let's see how ya like me now!" she cried.

They met once more in another collision, except Pichu was holding her own now, perhaps even better than that. Dark Pichu threw a super punch that Pichu managed to catch in her paw, and she used Vital Throw. Dark Pichu flew up high into the air where Pichu fired a barrage of lightning bolts at her, half of which hit. The clone landed safely and dashed at its foe in a zigzag pattern, and combined Extremespeed with Skull Bash at hit Pichu with the force of a Mach 1 missile. They both flew through the air, almost fast enough to break the sound barrier, punching and kicking each other furiously in the struggle to get the upper hand. Pichu slowly and steadily glowed brighter and brighter as her body metabolized the berry, and since she was so small, it was much more potent than if Matt had used it...

Pichu grabbed her opponent just before they landed and skidded across the landscape, and discharged such a large volume of electricity that lightning bolts shot from Dark Pichu's eye sockets and her tiny teeth crackled and sparked. Finished zapping but still full of energy, Pichu kicked the clone off and into the air and used Thunder. The lightning bolt blew Dark Pichu away at a diagonal trajectory and Pichu intercepted her with a super fast Quick attack. Before she could attack, Dark Pichu emitted a black wave of energy that disrupted her mind with evil thoughts. While she stumbled about, trying to empty her head, Dark Pichu wound up a Focus Punch attack.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Pichu went flying like a missile. Again. The pain cleared her head and she managed to stop herself short by using a super Skull Bash. She landed and ran at Dark Pichu, who was also dashing towards her. They slammed and created a Sonicboom and flew off to the side from the impact, and punched and kicked each other as hard as they could.

_This thing's unstoppable!_ Pichu thought fearfully. She pounded her opponent's nervous system with another surge of lightning after which Dark Pichu used Revenge and knocked her away. Even with the two discharges she emmited, the energy inside her body was going to reach a critical level since her body was so small. If she didn't do something drastic, and fast, nobody would have to worry about Dark Pichu, or even Pichu ever again, for that matter...

And then her thoughts flashed back to the scroll Eagun had tried teaching her Volt Tackle from.

She still had that Light ball around, didn't she? She anxiously patted her fur where she...somehow stored stuff while Dark Pichu advanced on her unmoving body.

Yes!

Pichu sprang up with a flip and landed on her back paws, and glared at her opponent angrily. Her body crackled with lightning, comparable to a generator about to malfunction and explode. She was just as dangerous.

Her body suddenly flashed with a multicolor aura, a sign that her time was limited if she didn't do something, NOW. Do something, she did. She hunched over and squinched her eyes shut, and focused all of her energy into the Light ball in her hands. It shone bright like a star, and then a dome of lightning exploded outward from it.

"VOLT TACKLE!" Pichu cried. She focused all of the energy back into herself and created a sustained barrier of pure plasma. The energy radiating from the dome of lightning levitated Pichu up into the air and thrashed out at anything nearby with tongues of electricity. Dark Pichu backed up in fear of the spectacle, and turned to run just as Pichu curled up inside the bubble and closed her eyes.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

The air hissed and Pichu shot through it, and then exploded into furious flames as the air caught fire. She slammed right into Dark Pichu, who was caught in the bubble. Dark Pichu screamed in pure agony as billions upon gazillions of volts of lightning raced through her body.

Pichu then shot up into the sky, with Dark Pichu in tow. The clone frantically beat on Pichu to distract her and free itself, but she was undeterred. When she reached a desirable height, almost two thousand feet in the air, she stopped and released all of the energy in her body, and redirected it into Dark Pichu.

Dark Pichu stayed suspended in midair, paralyzed by all of the energy, and quickly losing control of it. Gravity kicked in for Pichu once more since she was no longer supported by Volt Tackle, and she plummeted. The only warning she got regarding the danger above was one, agony pierced wail, and then Dark Pichu exploded like a bomb. The blast caught up to Pichu and drove her towards the ground at high speed, and when she hit the force burrowed her into the ground. Aboveground, a gigantic wave of plasma spread outward like a tsunami.

Luigi, Kirby, and Paul, who were still fighting and under huge amounts of pressure, turned to see the wave of lightning and barely had enough time to scream before it hit them.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Snake watched the battle from afar, and was the only one to witness the atomic Dark Pichu bomb explode and be able to describe the results.

Dark Pichu exploded and a huge ring of plasma spread out, creating a disturbing thrumming noise. Snake turned and fled down the opposite side of the hill he was standing on, and got down it just before the plasma ring vaporized the top of it right off. It shot off into the blue sky overhead and dissipated, leaving him behind with a massive buildup of static electricity in his body.

"One move...and I'm probably dead." Snake muttered to himself.

Nearby, and angry squirrel ran about, chattering angrily because its tree home was just vaporized. It had a nut in hand, and it REALLY wanted to throw it at somebody. It saw Snake a few yards away, and it tossed the nut.

He was so taken by surprise, Snake fell over and hit the ground.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!

A massive lightning bolt shot out of the clear sky and struck him directly. When the smoke cleared, he was at the bottom of a crater, charred completely black.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Barely conscious, Pichu dug her way out of the hole she was forced to dig by the explosion. Her keen hearing, though battered by the explosion, caught another thrumming noise. She looked up to see a helicopter bearing the insignia of GUN, and could just barely make out Thomas leaning out the side as he waved the mirror about. He yelled something unintelligible, and then the helicopter took off to the north.

Thomas made it to his ride, with the Dark Mirror in his possession.

The Smashers lost the fight.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**I'm so sorry I made you all wait so long. I've distracted myself with Heroes, the TV show, not my story, and I've been playing a few rented games from Blockbuster.**

**Said games are Kirby Super Star Ultra(already returned and beaten. ) and Sonic Chronicles, the Dark Brotherhood. For a sonic game, it's actually taking me longer than I expected. Most of the time, Sonic games are kinda short and you can beat them in a day or so, but this one's taking me three days so far! It IS an RPG, and those take longer...But still. If you guys like Sonic still, and have a DS, it's pretty fun! Give it a pop.**

**Anyhow, seeing as the Kirby game was a remake, I've gotten a peek into the past, Kirby's past, to be specific. It's going to help me out a lot with this story! Huzzah! Give that game a shot, too, if you like kirby games. It's really funny for a Kirby game, and I found it very enjoyable.**

**...I'm sorry I've let you down, everybody. I've just been lazy, and I apologize. I'm going to get the next Arc started as soon as I can, which could be as soon as Tomorrow, 'cept I'm gonna go and finish Sonic Chronicles. After that...Well, let's just say I'm finished renting games for the moment, and I'm not interested in any other TV series I haven't seen yet. I WILL have more time to use, and I WILL keep up with my work. One last note here...**

**Super Mario Brothers Z, Episode 7, is OUT! GO WATCH IT NOW IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES! GOOGLE IT! WATCH IT ON NEWGROUNDS! JUST DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!**

**Gasp Gasp**

**And there you have it. That's the end of today's update, and the Hyrule Arc! Let me know whatcha think. And sorry, everybody, that I don't reply to reviews that much. I just prefer to address everybody here. I appreciate the reviews all of you have given me, and you're all awesome! Thanks for sticking with me, even though I'm such an unreliable updater and whatnot.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	58. NOW They decide to get serious?

**MWA HA HA! This next arc will be kinda short, but I consider it to be important.**

**I don't know how many of you have read Wiiboychris's story yet, but I find it to be very entertaining. It's almost like a Super smash version of Kingdom hearts, the way he writes it, but it's really neat. If you haven't read his big premiere yet, GO DO IT, NOW! Or, at least after reading this chapter. :**

**Thanks for the reviews, everybody! Dang, you guys are just starting to flood me with them. I'm swimming in an ocean of happiness. Yay!**

**Now...Uh, My guess is this arc is going to nail the pin on the head at about three chapters, but methinks some of you will welcome the results, he he. It could hit four chapters, but more likely three than four. I am also going to try making my updates larger than I have been, 'cause I'm a competitive dude at heart, and there's so many good authors out there like Game2002, Nintendogeek01, and Wiiboychris (His story is as long as both Supremacy AND this story put together so far! Yikes!) Still, I'm not unfriendly, and I wish these dudes the best of luck, as well as the rest of you authors out there! I just want to be one of the best of the best...But enough of that!**

**Didn't Thomas say GUN was done messing around? And isn't acquiring an artifact like the Dark Mirror proof of that? What could the useless Global protection Unit of Nations be up to THIS time!? They do EVERYTHING BUT protect the earth now!**

**Matt: It's 'cause they're LAAAAAAME!**

**Kirby: Da! What kinda doofuses do they think they are, anyways? Why can't they just get outta our dang way and take a nap?!**

**Paul: If they did that, I don't think there'd be any reason for this story. (Sweatdrops)**

**Ness: I second that opinion.**

**Pichu: I still can't believe I fried everybody and made us fail our last mission!**

**Link: At least it was a cool explosion.**

**Matt: Dwah, you're hopeless. (Slaps forehead)**

**Roy: Me LOOOOOOOVE 'splosions!**

**Matt: At least you have an excuse, Roy, you're...Well, technically you ARE insane!**

**Crazy Hand: Noez, I'm da crazy dood!**

**Paul: Shut up already! Since I'm the author's alter ego, I'm taking over the notes section from now on.**

**Fox: Why's that?**

**Paul: Haven't noticed how useless I am lately? All I do is support everybody in battle. I'm doing this job full-time so I can earn a few extra points.**

**Kirby: Points? What points!? Are we shooting for a high score!?**

**Paul: (Sweatdrops) Somebody shoot me.**

**Matt: Yeah, whatever. All you readers need to worry about is just reading like you usually do. Move it already!**

**Paul: Before you idiots shoot me and kill the author in the process, he's spilled the beans about a new project. Anybody ever read his Kirby fic? He's going to make an RPG outta it, along with that FF:CC one.**

**Kirby: I wanna play a game with me in it! LET ME PLAY IT!**

**Paul: Back off, it's nowhere near even a demo yet, so take a break! I've also got a small SSB battle game I'm working on...but I've said it before it's nothing special, and it's NOTHING like brawl. NOTHING. So sorry I've been goofing off, but...Yeah, I think I'm done now.**

**Pichu: Anythin' interesting gonna happen now?**

**Paul: I can tell you this much: there's a few arcs left before the story moves onto more important matters. They're not always going to be on the run, and after reading Wiiboychris's fic, I'm really missing writing "Mansion" chapters.**

**Link: Oh, brother. I think enough people have exploded and flooded their mansions by now.**

**Paul: But have I blown up the mansion yet? Nope! I need a shot at it too. Speaking of which...After this story is finished I've decided to write two background stories, the two that lead up to Supremacy. One will basically follow the first twelve smashers and how they meet Master Hand, and their first "False alarm". The next will introduce the fighters of Melee, and expect both of these stories to have tons of character development, you'll literally get to see them become what they are now! I'm really looking forward to writing them. They'll be shorter, of course, since they're not all that important, but they're necessary.**

**Link: Embarrassing, if you ask me. I didn't always know how to speak English. **

**Pichu: Yeah, I know! Ness told me you wet your pants the first time you saw the microwave!**

**Link: Shut up ya sparky dork!**

**Kirby: Personally, I thought Marth and Roy were funnier.**

**Fox: Marth's first English word was "IDIOT!" And he didn't get past that part for a looooong time.**

**Kirby: Sayonara, Baka! MWA HA HA!**

**Roy: Sayonara, Baka!**

**Paul: Also, I'm debating whether to abandon the bold lettering with my notes. I think normal script may be tidier. Eh, whatever. You guys came for a story, not some Idiot Conference.**

**Everybody Else: HEY!**

**Crazy Hand: Only I'm allowed to call ya'll idiots!**

**Paul: (Sticks out Tongue) Yeah right! Uh...Right! Chapter! Coming right up! Last note: I'm one vote away from doing Get Snake! If one more person wants me to, I'll start it. I probably won't update it often, but it'll be there! Whahoo! Let's get going, then! If you haven't voted for your favorite Corruption team members in my profile yet, DO IT NOW! Sheik's the favorite now at 5 votes. Sheik's lots more popular than I expected...Heh, sorry I haven't really introduced her into my series until now.**

**-Chapter XXXXXVIII-**

**-NOW They Decide to get Serious!-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

-Aboard an Unknown Vessel-

"100 increase of GUN activity aboard the Space Colony ARK." A computerized voice announced emotionlessly. "Intervention may be required."

"Shut up." A feminine voice growled, :"What are you? Some lousy Police scanner?"

"I merely fulfill my duty as-"

"Give it a break. I need to find Matt and Link's group. Listening to GUN's longwave communications and spying on them isn't getting us anywhere."

"Incoming transmission from the Galactic Space Federation commander:"

"I don't take his calls anymore, he's a traitor. Hack into GUN's frequencies again and see if there's anything important."

The cockpit stayed silent for a few moments, and then the computer 'spoke' again.

"GUN has acquired "Dark Mirror artifact from Hyrule Catacombs. General Thomas won against the rebels in combat but they failed to take the team captive. Link is still at large, and Zelda's bounty has been raised."

"Zelda's still kicking...Maybe there's still a few things worth saving then."

"Preparing periodical Biohazard Scan-"

"I said stop doing that already, it's pointless...I know what's happening to me and there's nothing that can stop it. I may as well do as much as I can to help before I rot."

"Continuation of GUN alert: Update on activity on the ARK. They will fire the Eclipse Cannon at the White Moon, the current location of the abandoned Smash City and Mansion, as a last ditch effort to eliminate safe points for the rebels."

"So, Link's cadre was defeated, and GUN's gonna blast the moon to dust, eh?"

"Affirmative. Master's use of English is annoying."

"Annoying?" The person scoffed angrily, "You're the annoying one!" The person leaned forward to turn off the volume for the ship's voice, but a bolt of lightning erupted from 'it's' fingers. The whole ship went dark.

"thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat'sssssss the tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeentiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeethhhhhhhh tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

BLOOP

Just like that, the whole ship was turned off, and whoever was inside, they waited impatiently for everything to reboot.

"Gosh, I hate my new powers."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The Gummi ship safely docked within the bay beneath the Halberd, and disgorged its occupants.

"Better luck next time!" Crazy said as the team left the ship, smelling of burnt flesh and ozone. Everybody was charred black with the exception of Snake, whose body was still charged with an immense buildup of static electricity. Every time he took a step, a small bolt of lightning struck the soles of his feet and drew a painful hiss from their owner.

"My beautiful Hyrule will never be the same!" Link wept pitifully.

"The Eldin plains have been transformed into a massive storm-ridden mudflat." Zelda sighed.

"I'm more worried about being a lightning rod for the rest of my life." Snake grunted.

"Get a life, dude!" Pichu mumbled from Fox's arms. She was badly wounded and too weak to walk on her own. "I might have just gotten us all killed, maybe you won't have to worry about the lightning stuff for much longer."

"We have to find the rest of our allies, and fast." Paul urged, "Even if it means pulling people like Ike outta Smash Retirement."

"I want to retire." Snake replied.

"Too bad that Master Hand has all the resignation papers, eh?" Matt chuckled, patting the mercenary heavily on his back. "Stick around, and you might get the chance."

"I hate you."

"I love you too." Matt answered sarcastically. While the crew walked along the pathway that curled along the outer walls of the docking bay, Meta Knight, followed by Ganondorf and Cloud, approached them from the opposite side.

When they met, Meta Knight nodded in acknowledgement before speaking. "I have bad news."

"We're full of it right now." Link moaned, "We lost against GUN."

"I know." Meta Knight replied, ruefully. "We intercepted one of GUN's orders. They're re-arming the ARK."

"The Space colony?" Matt asked. "Why?"

"They're planning on firing upon the mansion." Meta Knight replied.

"Wait, WHAT!?" Everybody shouted.

"Apparently GUN believes we have a secret base on our moon still, and they want to destroy it to keep us from rebuilding."

"Every word of it is true." Ganondorf affirmed in a morose tone.

"We also got word that GUN plans to interfere with some war in Tellius." Cloud added.

"We were just speaking about Ike in passing." Luigi said, "Makes me wonder how he's doing, we never had a chance to get to know him well."

"I thought all of this over." Meta Knight replied, "The best course of action would be for your team to assault GUN's new base on the ARK while I take the Halberd to Tellius and warn Ike."

"Here we go again." Matt moaned, "Look at us, we're about to die of exhaustion."

"Which will not stop GUN, they will not pity us and will show us no quarter." Meta Knight said. "But you could always take some people with you, we ARE rather close to being an army ourselves now."

_Since when did Meta Knight order us around? _Matt wondered._ He wasn't like this when we first met him..._ "Yeah...Tell everybody we'll meet them in the bridge."

"I shall. See you there, and even though you failed in Hyrule, you did well to hold up against two of GUN's finest generals. From the information we've heard, GUN seems to think of it as a tie since they didn't kill you."

"That's just super." Link said, wearing a fake grin. Meta Knight, Cloud, and Ganondorf then took their leave, and Link's plastered smile slid right off. "Have I ever mentioned our life sucks?" He whispered.

The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"We need to find everybody else, and fast." Link murmured as they walked to the bridge. They had to pass through a really long hallway, at the end of which lay their destination.

"I've lost count of how many people we've rescued, but Marth, DK, Young Link, Captain Falcon, Mr. Game and Watch, and a few others are still missing." Matt said.

"And we're going to have to pull the others out of retirement." Ness said.

"Hoo, they're gonna love the mess we're in." Paul said. "Makes me wonder what Sora's doing in Radiant Garden."

"Let's just pick the rest of the people that will prop us up on our latest 'mission', I KNOW for a fact we can't keep fighting like this." Fox said.

"Amen." Everybody said.

"I wish we knew if Mario and Peach were ok..." Luigi trailed off.

"I'm sure they are. GUN wouldn't dare lay a finger on Peach, at least." Kirby said.

"But my brother's a rabbit!" Luigi protested, "A weird, spaz-eyed, rotund rabbit!"

"Maybe we can get them for Animal Cruelty if they do anything to him." Kirby said, stroking himself below his mouth.

"We're there." Link said, "Shush, everybody." He opened the door and everybody filed inside with him taking up the rear, and he closed the door.

"You've made it." Meta Knight spoke from his position in front of the steering wheel. "Now...How many of you cooped up people are willing to help against GUN?"

Everybody raised their hands including the main team.

"I wasn't exactly speaking about you, but your enthusiasm is appreciated." Meta Knight said, directing his attention to Matt's crew.

"GUN can't keep getting away with this junk!" Spam shouted from next to his snifit pal Snurckle.

"You guys are helpless without me." Bowser said, flashing a mocking grin.

"S'more 'splosions!" Roy shouted.

"I thought I was the guy deciding this?" Matt said, eyebrow raised. Everybody fell silent. "I'll take Spam and Snurckle, Bowser, Roy, Dr. Mario, Sheik, Ganondorf, and Vyse."

"I want to stay and sleep this last battle off." Vyse protested, at which Meta Knight just prodded him in the rear with his sword. "Fine, I'll go!" He shouted, "Don't poke me!"

"If you don't mind me asking, what are Sora, Jun, Pit, Midna, and Falco doing at Radiant Garden?" Paul asked.

"What else do you think?" Meta Knight said.

"Are they our informants, where we're getting all of GUN's secrets from?" Fox asked.

"Precisely. That security program all of you befriended, Tron, has proven to be an excellent ally."

"It's cool to know we have an outpost of sorts." Paul said, scratching the back of his head.

"Outpost, shmoutpost." Kirby said, "By the sound of things GUN's making a base on the ARK so we better go stop them!"

"I'm in agreement with da marshmallow." Pichu said, "Let's stop wastin' time and do it! Don't we have only 24 hours to stop them?"

"Hey!"

"You have a point." Meta Knight said thoughtfully. Vyse glared at him when he said 'point'.

"Good luck, Sheik!" Zelda said, waving to her 'sister' as she left the room.

"We'll be victorious this time, I swear!" Sheik shouted back before the door shut.

"For our sakes, I hope she is." Cloud murmured.

_Be careful, Vyse._ Fina thought.

"So, now we're headed for Tellius I hear?" Snake asked.

"Correct." Meta Knight replied.

"Wake me when we get there." Snake answered abruptly, leaving the room. Just before the door closed, he peeked back inside. "Actually, _don't_ wake me when we get there, and don't let Zelda anywhere near my room."

SLAM!

"Idiot." Zelda snarled.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Good to have you back, Bowser!" Yoshi cheered, speaking for the first time since the team returned to the Halberd.

"Good thing I've finally got my cough under control." Bowser said, "Otherwise I'd just be a hazard. Now, though...I may actually be of some use."

"What are you talking about, Bowser?" Vyse asked, "...Hey, why are your scales darker, and why's Yoshi's nose have a purple blotch on it?"

"Mmm, nothing." Bowser said, "I went and got a tan and accidentally caught a cold, and Yoshi spilled condensed grape juice on his nose."

"But grape juice doesn't-"

"You don't want to know." Kirby piped up.

"He's got a fungus infection." Bowser said.

"HEY! That's private!" Yoshi shouted, pretending to be extremely angry. _Whew, that was close._

As expected, Vyse walked to the other side of the group and stood next to Fox. "Anything _else_ I need to know?"

"Snake's a human lightning rod, but that's it." Fox replied.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!

"That would be Snake trying to enter his bedroom." Fox answered, before Vyse could ask.

"But what about catching a cold getting a tan? That doesn't make any sense."

"We aren't playing twenty questions today, Vyse, so give it a rest." Matt said, exasperated. Vyse scowled and hunched his shoulders.

"What is this Eclipse Cannon I've been hearing about, then?" Sheik asked.

"Sheik!"

"I'll explain." Link said, passing a "Be nice" look to Matt. "The Eclipse cannon is a big...machine that shoots lasers and blows stuff up."

"Like?"

"It could blow the Smash City out of existence easily, and it could take out Hyrule just as easily. Everything would be vaporized!"

"YAY! I WANNA SEE SOMETHING BLOW UP!" Roy yelled childishly.

"That's terrible!" Sheik said.

"I know." Link agreed while slapping his pyromaniac friend on the head.

"You aren't helping his condition any." Dr. Mario said.

"Oops, sorry." Link apologized sheepishly.

"Pretty colors." Roy moaned with delight/pain.

"Great, now he's hallucinating." Dr. Mario said.

"Can we go now?" Luigi asked. They were already standing in front of their ship.

"Yes, can we go now?" Crazy asked impatiently.

"Oops, yes, yes we can. Crazy, open the hatch!" Matt called out.

"What's da magic word?" Crazy asked.

"PLEASE!"

"You're freaking welcome!" Crazy shouted happily as he opened the hatch. Unfortunately, Matt was in the way...

THUNK.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I'm not building your escape laser." Matt promised, holding a bag of ice on his head.

"I'm sowwe!" Crazy wailed, his image dancing across the windshield.

"I'm trying to drive, idiot!" Fox shouted, moving his head around in an attempt to get a better view.

"Sorry." Crazy hand said, before flying off the screen, crying. A moment later the projector on the hologram machine shut off, once again returning Fox's sight to him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that!" Fox shouted, a little too late.

"It's crowded in here!" Spam shouted. Near the back of the cockpit, he was crammed up against the glass dome along with his partner Snurckle, Pichu, Kirby, and Ness. Ganon, Vyse, Dr. Mario, and Roy were using the remaining seats. Sheik sat on the floor in front of Link, which annoyed something inside of him for some reason, and Bowser was below on the catwalk, all by his lonesome.

"Nice ship." Vyse managed to grunt. "Now I see why you wanted me, Seth, Zelda, Snake and Henry below.

"Speaking of Henry, he's back at the Halberd." Sheik said.

"Matt, I can't remember where to find the ARK." Fox admitted from the pilot's seat.

"Fine. Activate the Non-Crazy auto-pilot, and I'll put in the coordinates."

"Crazy could help out if I hadn't hurt his feelings." Fox sighed.

"Crazy's really inside your computer then, isn't he?" Ganon asked, "I thought he and Master Hand went missing."

"Master Hand did, along with Cress Albane." Paul said.

"But Crazy hid himself inside the hologram machine, which we salvaged." Matt said. "So in a sense he did go missing."

"Technology never fails to impress me." Sheik said, impressed.

"I almost wonder if Master Hand didn't just abandon us." Pichu said, muffled.

"Never!" Yoshi replied confidently.

"He hasn't helped us any yet." Fox sighed. "This isn't like him at all."

The group fell silent after Fox's last comment, and after while they all heaved a collective sigh.

"I've got it." Matt said, finally. "The coordinates are in, now we just need to wait for our ship to get us there."

"Go ahead and rest while you can, everybody." Link sighed tiredly, "This is only going to get rougher from here on out."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Good thing those Smashers left the Chaos emeralds here, huh?" One soldier asked.

"Yeah, what kind of idiots go searching for emeralds and then abandon them when they find them all?"

The two soldiers glanced at each other, and replied in synchronization, "The Smashers do, that's who!" Then they laughed uproariously, falling to the ground while clutching their sides. Below the window they were _supposed_ to be watching through, the Gummi ship drifted in and anchored itself with a magnet on a cable.

While the GUN soldiers laughed their heads off, the crew on board the Gummi ship sneaked off. Matt looked up at the windows where the soldiers were and charged up a lightning blast on his gun, and fired. It impacted the windows and shorted out all of the equipment inside the station, and fried the idiots.

"As useless as ever, I see." Matt said after blowing smoke off the rotating shaft in the middle of his energy grenade weapon, "GUN never changes."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Elsewhere, a similar scenario played out.

Another, but much smaller ship, docked on the ARK. The soldiers in the watch station nearby saw the ship land, and they grabbed a laser rifle each from a stash nearby. They rushed down a staircase and flattened themselves on the wall beside the door frame, and took a tentative peek at their guest.

Once they saw who it was, they rushed out with a war cry and fired a stream of lasers from their guns. The figure raised its arm and blocked with a bubble of lightning, and then shot out a snaking beam of lightning from its left arm. The two soldiers screamed as the tendril of energy approached them, but they instantly died when it touched them and millions of volts flashed through their bodies.

A strange, pulsing hum filled the air, and the tendril of energy flashed like lightning and created an explosive boom. The blast of energy vaporized the soldier's bodies into ash, leaving nothing behind but a few embers of burning clothing.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I'll take the point!" Link said, rushing ahead of the group and taking the lead.

The team was running down a curving hallway around the ARK's outer limits, trying to find a passage that would lead them closer to the center. They saw a group of soldiers up ahead, who in turn saw them and started firing upon them with an assortment of weaponry.

Link carved a path down the middle with his shield, and when he was within range, he leaned forward and used his spin attack. He shot ahead with a screaming noise as he tore through the air, and eventually the soldiers themselves. Luigi compounded their pain with his Luigi Cyclone attack, and then Ness blasted through with the use of PK Thunder.

While they were trying to regain their senses, Vyse launched a wave of water from his sword that Pichu charged with lightning. The thundery water slammed into the remaining soldiers and shocked them unconscious while pushing them backwards. Sheik zipped in with a few needles and pierced a few of them in the forehead as she passed, and then came the two tanks.

Ganon blew people aside with brutal punches, and those that miraculously managed to get through the mayhem unharmed were finished off by Bowser's cursed breath.

The whole onslaught lasted around five seconds.

Just like that, the appropriately named Smashers were gone. A few soldiers stumbled about with terrible wounds like broken arms and legs, but they were the lucky ones. There was a large amount of soldiers that died by electrocution and flesh wounds, and then there was the gallery of soldiers frozen in various positions of horror, completely turned to stone.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

At the end of the hallway they managed to find a fork in the road where they took a left, towards the innards of the station.

Ahead of them, a group of soldiers appeared from behind cover and pulled out a battalion's worth of sniper rifles. The smashers were far out of range, and they'd be dead if they didn't do something fast. Fox looked around for something, anything, and then he saw a hatch on the floor where the soldiers were standing. He fired a quick laser from his gun and hoped that it wouldn't miss.

It hit to lock and melted it, and the hatch blasted out into space. The soldiers screamed and tried grabbing something to save themselves, but the vacuum pulled them out of the station and scattered them to the stars. Just as the smashers were approaching the breach, an emergency shutter slid into place and blocked the hole. Luigi watched the soldiers drift away into the blackness of space through the glass on the hallway floor, and shuddered as they continued on.

Shortly after the shutter incident the team ran up a slope into a large room with lots of conveyor belts, cranes, and large boxes with G.U.N printed on the sides atop GUN's crest.

Unfortunately there were also a lot of soldiers in the room. Lots of soldiers versus a tired team of fighters.

Before they could draw breath and rest, the soldiers opened fire. The team dove to the sides behind some boxes, and Matt countered with a hail of chaos bullets that took a few soldiers down. Fox also shot a few with his blaster. After a few moments the crates exploded from the heat of being fired at, and the smashers were scattered.

Luigi didn't move very far from the explosion, but he was the first to hit the ground. He rolled around to put the fire out and incidentally dodged all of the bullets aimed at him. Once the fire was out he sprung back up to his feet and hurled a few of his green fireballs at some of the crates the soldiers were standing on, and then called down a blast of lightning from the ceiling. He caught it in his hand and spun about at high speed before throwing it at a catwalk up above. The surge of lightning knocked all of the soldiers on it down and caused a few of them to fall off. Pichu followed up with another bolt of light for good measure.

Paul cast a lasting Reflect spell around his body and charged the GUN soldiers head on, and took a few swings at them with his sword at close range. One soldier got smart enough to block with his gun, after which a few nearby soldiers dropped their weapons and started beating on him with their fists and armored feet. Link dropped in from above with a jump attack and cleared a few of the soldiers away, and threw his ally backwards with his free hand. After Paul was out of the way, Link started bowling soldiers aside with mighty swings of his blade.

One rather burly and armored soldier chased after Sheik, who instantly fled for cover. He chased after her with a gatling gun in hand, and when he rounded the corner, Sheik lashed out with her fist with a few needles in between her fingers. He yelped in pain as the punch drove the needles into his arm, and he grunted furiously before yanking them out. She backed up and threw a needle at his forehead which he blocked with his hand. After that he lowered his gun and fired like crazy. Sheik first flipped backwards and kicked off the crate she landed on, and used her newfound momentum to run across the wall. He fired a trail of bullets after her, never managing to hit her once. She kicked off the wall and plowed her foot into his stomach and then flipped over him, knocking the wind out of his lungs with a whoosh. He turned in fury and started firing again, but she whipped out her chain and snagged the end of his gun and dashed back behind him. The jerk in the chain flipped the gun straight into his face, right as he pulled the trigger. One shot, and he fell to the floor with a tremendous thud.

While chaos exploded below, Ness launched himself up near the conveyor belts where a few of the soldiers were armed with sniper rifles. A few of them fired at him but he managed to drift out of the way before any of the shots hit him. Before they knew it he was up on the belt along with them, and he yanked out his yo-yo and started schooling them. One soldier ran at him with his hands stretched out, ready to grab him, when he flew to the side and grabbed his leg with his yo-yo and tripped him. He went flying over the edge and landed on a few of his fellow GUN soldiers. Ness then turned to the rest of the soldiers and defended himself against the wave of bullets headed towards him. He swatted a few aside with his hands and stopped the rest with his telekinesis. While the soldiers were reloading, he took the split-second of a chance that he had and blew through them like a missile with the use of PK Thunder. Most of the soldiers were thrown from their positions, but only one was smart enough to get out of the way. Ness missed him completely, and when he landed again the soldier tackled him and wrestled him to the ground. While the psychic boy was defenseless, the soldier started punching every single bit of skin he could reach. While he was beating the tar out of the poor boy, the conveyor belt slowly pulled them in to a tunnel where there was a bunch of machinery that did stuff with boxes.

"GUN isn't gonna miss me, but your friends will be devastated if they lose YOU!" The soldier laughed maniacally as they got dangerously close to the machines. It would be fatal if any of them fell inside.

"I don't want to die!" Ness screamed before biting the man's hand. He screamed in agony and tried throwing Ness in, but before he could do so, Ness paralyzed him with PK Thunder and ran away. He screamed in a high pitched voice, but he was cut off when he got crunched by the gears and other stuff.

Ganon charged a while after he regained his senses, and by using his dark magic he prevented any bullets from harming his body. He bashed into a crowd of soldiers that he scared the daylights out of with his shoulder, and made a bowling ball hitting pins noise. Roy dashed in, screaming like and idiot and making chicken clucking noises while flapping his arms. Unfortunately for the Gun soldiers nearby his sword was in his right hand, and each time he slashed somebody it was with enough force to split them in half.

"I forgot how much I hate you." Ganon moaned in annoyance while he watched the maniac peck the ground. Roy seemed to recover a bit of his senses at the dark warlord's insult, and flung himself at a group of soldiers while screaming, "Flare Bladez!" He slashed downwards and diagonally to the sides as fast as he could, creating a rapid string of explosions that decimated the soldiers in front of him. Ganon turned to see reinforcements coming into the room, but he snarled, angry, and cupped his hands before aiming his palms at the entryway. "Gerudo DRAGOOOOOOOOON!" He shouted. A purple dragon head made of darkness erupted from his hands and consumed the soldiers it ran into, and with an ear-splitting explosion it destroyed the doorway.

Vyse tried following Roy around in an attempt to assist the maniac, but each time he tried attacking an enemy, the soldier would already be finished off. In his frustration, he shot up into the air and used his Rain of Swords attack. He finished off a large amount of soldiers that were attacking, and accidentally smoked his pal Roy.

"Zee pain, eet eez killing moi!" Roy shouted, before passing out.

"Oops." Vyse replied sheepishly.

"Watch out!" Ganondorf shouted. A large soldier similar to the one that attacked Sheik earlier came up behind Vyse with a large box in his hands, and prepared to smash the young air pirate into putty. Ganon kicked him out of the way with his Wizard's foot, just as the box came down. It broke when it hit Ganon's head, and he got stuck.

"Gotcha." The soldier said, before he tried throwing the crate into a nearby tower of flames, with the king still inside.

"It's CLOBBERIN' TIME!" Ganon roared. He broke free from the box with a blast of darkness, and while the soldier was still surprised, Ganondorf glided right up into his face and grabbed his head with one hand. He then shot up into the air and came back down, slamming the GUN dude headfirst into the hard metal floor. After he landed in another explosion of darkness, he kicked the unconscious, boulder-like soldier into another group and bowled them all over.

Spam and Snurckle teamed up with Kirby to dish out long-ranged pain. While Spam was tossing his Zeus' Spear, a soldier sneaked up behind the trio with a bazooka. Kirby turned and saw the soldier aiming the gun at Snurckle, and moved to defend him. The soldier fired the rocket, and Kirby got in the way just in time to inhale and absorb the bazooka shell, gaining the Bomb ability. The GUN soldier grunted in distaste and threw the useless gun at them, and Spam noticed it coming. He jumped into the air and split it with a thrust of his spear, and while he was still in the air, Snurckle fired a hail of cannonballs at him. He batted each of the cannonballs at the soldier and pummeled him into submission. Kirby rushed forward and launched a star that smacked the guy on the head with a POW noise, and then used his Final Cutter attack and sent out a star-powered shockwave. Spam slammed the ground with his spear while the man was still sliding backwards, and a giant boulder erupted from the ground and knocked him into the air. He then hit him with a bolt of lightning followed by a sphere of sharp, damaging wind, and Kirby brought him back down to the ground with another Final Cutter. When the man hit the ground, Snurckle shuddered, and hissed in pain as he summoned up a giant projectile. He finally sneezed with the force of a hurricane, and a gigantic Bullet Bill shot out of his snout. The bullet bill pinned the soldier up against a wall, and exploded into a gigantic blast of flame, taking him out. "How'd you shoot a missile that's twenty times the size of your body!?" Kirby asked, shocked.

Yoshi just ran about, breathing electrified fire breath everywhere and blowing up machinery while incinerating any soldier stupid enough to get in the way. Dr. Mario attended the wounds of his allies, and when Roy fell unconscious, he revived him with smelling salts.

"POO!" Roy screamed, instantly regaining consciousness. He smacked the stinky salts out of his friend's hands and jumped to his feet. Once he was steady on the ground, he dashed off, screaming "POO!" over and over again while spinning his sword about at high speed.

By now the group of soldiers was starting to thin out, and after a few tense moments the last of them were finished off, finally allowing the team a chance to breathe.

"They still...aren't learning...anything." Matt gasped.

"They are getting tougher." Link replied, "Maybe GUN's been holding out on us?"

"Possibly."

"There's a tank coming!" Spam shouted, "And it's HUGE!"

True to the shy guy's words, a large tank came out of the remaining entrance and aimed its gun barrel down at the tired and ragged group.

"Too...Tired." Link gasped, falling to his knees.

"Get up, you fool!" Bowser shouted, trying to shake him back to his senses. The gun barrel on the cannon glowed as it charged up a massive laser, and Bowser's shaking became more urgent. "Somebody, fire at the tank!"

"I'm out of energy!" Matt shouted.

"You do it, Ganon!"

"Not enough juice left for my Gerudo Dragon!"

"Drat!" Bowser shouted, and closed his eyes.

The cannon was seconds away from firing a lethal jet of plasma at the crew, and just before it released the blast, lightning danced across the tank's surface, and it exploded with the brightness of a supernova. Everything flashed white, and the silhouettes of the smashers were black against the explosion.

"Who did that!?" Fox shouted, shocked. He tried squinting through the smoke that now separated them from the remains of the tank, but he couldn't exactly make out their savior. Still, it seemed...familiar.

"...No!" Fox suddenly shouted. "It can't be!"

"What are you talking about?" Ness asked, coughing. Luigi also saw the person, and his skin went pale before he collapsed, shivering uncontrollably.

The smoke was starting to clear, and a figure stepped out and stood atop the remains of the tank while the rest of the team stared up at it. Some were unbelieving, and others just plain confused.

A minute after the smoke was completely cleared, Pichu finally gathered enough strength to say something.

"No...Freaking...WAY. You're supposed to be dead!" She shouted.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

_Paul: Mwa ha ha! Here's the ending notes...Clear of any bold print. Tell me if you like it when you review._

_Matt: Wow. I wasn't expecting this._

_Roy: Who'd have thunk it?_

_Paul: Well, not much to say here, 'cept I'm finished with this chapter. I enjoyed typing it and am hoping that you enjoyed reading it! I also would like to know how you feel about my decision to make my updates larger. See you all next time, and take care!_

_Please remember to VOTE if you haven't done it yet. I've also finally hit double epic length with this fic! YAHOO! It took me 56 chapters in Supremacy just to hit normal epic length, but i've done that twice as fast so far. Yay! WHAHOO! Ok, i'm done partying now. Please wait patiently while I try updating again, which COULD be as early as tomorrow. Sunday is more likely, but what they hey, you just might get surprised._

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**


	59. Shocking Surprise

**Paul/Author: MWA HA HA! MWA HA HA! BUH HUH HUH! **

**AHEM**

**Sorry, heh, just felt like doing that. I'm kinda crazy at the moment, and I also found out I can do something really gross with my eyes. Wanna know what?**

**I shall tell ya! I'm NOT kidding.**

**I can look left with my right eye and straight ahead with my left. Now I can REALLY look crazy. OO**

**It's disgusting, but also cool. I'm the human Chameleon!**

**Fox: Don't let Leon hear you say that.**

**Falco: Yeah, that scummy bag of scales would take offense to that, yes he would.**

**Sora: When am I gonna get the spotlight again? I only showed up in one chapter this whole freaking story!**

**Paul: Unfortunately for you, you're a third-party character.**

**Sora: So? You're from the same "game" I am, and worse yet, you're an OC!**

**Falco: OOH! BURN!**

**Roy: I like burns too! Do you?**

**Falco: W-What are you doing?**

**Roy: BURN, BABY, BUUUUUUURRRRRN!**

**Falco: WHAUGH! (KABOOM!)**

**Fox: RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ROY IS ON THE LOOSE!**

**Paul: So sorry, gotta split before I GET split!**

**Roy: I'm not finished cooking the entrée yet!**

**Paul: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!! **

**-Chapter XXXXXIX-**

**-Shocking Surprise-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

A minute after the smoke was completely cleared, Pichu finally gathered enough strength to say something.

"No...Freaking...WAY. You're supposed to be dead!" She shouted.

Samus merely looked her way, and shook her head no.

"Hey...something looks different about you." Roy said, "Didja get a haircut?"

"He's still stupid? Oh, please..." Samus moaned.

"What happened to your power suit?" Matt asked.

"I was hoping that you could tell me." She replied.

Samus's suit looked very different. Picture the PED suit from Metroid Prime, Corruption. The whole suit was pitch black except for the blue-grey modifications the Galactic Federation made when they tried installing the Phazon siphon that would upgrade her weapon systems during hyper mode. The green lights that usually adorned her Varia suit were neon blue and her arm cannon used to be green but now it was a violent purple.

"Pretty colors." Roy answered in a slurred voice.

"Shut up, idiot." Ganondorf said before he smacked the swordsman upside the head.

Link was still at a loss for words. "Uh..."

"What?"

"You...really look different, Samus."

"You don't know the half of it." Samus snarled. She placed her hands at the base of her helmet and tripped some sort of switch, and lifted her helmet off her head while her suit hissed as it depressurized. The result elicited a cacophony of screams from the present party, mostly Luigi and Roy.

One side of her face was normal, but the other side was twisted. A network of what appeared to be blue veins spread out under the right side of her face. They were very prominent and easy to see, and in addition to the freaky blue lines, her eye was neon blue and the whites of the same eye were dark. Her skin was also very pale, and slightly clammy looking.

"What happened to you!?" Matt asked.

"What you're looking at now is the result of terminal phazon corruption." Samus said, "Even as we speak, my body is mass producing the mutagenic ooze, and if I don't discharge the buildup within a reasonable amount of time I will burst." To demonstrate, she aimed her cannon over to her right and fired a volley of laser blue beams. The resulting explosions were laced with lightning, and half the lights in the room flickered.

"The lightning...I got that from the disgusting scorpion we battled." Samus explained, "I don't know how or why. But thanks to Dark Samus and a load of other stuff, I'm stuck in Hyper mode for the rest of the few months I have left on this planet, and to top it off I have freakish new lightning powers. Does anybody care to see what my WaveBuster attack looks like now?"

"Let's save it for GUN, shall we?" Matt asked, sweating profusely.

"Suit yourself." Samus said while she shut her arm cannon off with a click.

"I'm glad you're back, Samus." matt said, "Really, I am. Want to come along with us? We came to stop GUN from firing the Eclipse Cannon at our home dimension."

"I know. That's why I'm here as well. My main reason was to meet back up with you." Samus said, "And I'm glad to say that was successful. I plan on staying with your team, as if I was never separated from it in Skyworld."

"Glad to have you back!" Link shouted happily, preparing to clap Samus on the back.

"No, wait! Don't!-"

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

"Hit me." Samus muttered, looking at Link's comically fried body on the ground.

"...Ow." Link gasped, expelling a puff of smoke from his lungs.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-Minutes later-

"So what's the plan here?" Samus asked, taking a sidelong glance at Bowser and Yoshi.

"Uh, I didn't really have a plan." Matt admitted, scratching his head, "I figured GUN would be easy to fight, but some of us are so darn tired we can't keep up like we should."

"How much sleep have you gotten in the past few days, then?" Samus asked.

"...Dunno. Not enough, that's for sure."

"Then I'll take the lead." Samus replied, "I haven't felt tired in days. It must be something to do with my transformation."

"I appreciate the help." Matt said.

"Let's GO!" Ganon shouted, jabbing his arm at the remaining doorway impatiently.

"We've hung around long enough." Dr. Mario agreed, "If we don't do something soon, GUN will destroy our mansion and the city along with it!"

"NOEZ! NEVER HAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL HOUSE GRACED OUR UNIVERSE BEFORE!" Roy yelled dramatically. His outburst earned him another angry slap from Ganondorf.

"Do everybody here a favor, Roy, and SHUT UP!" Pichu screamed loud enough to shake dust off the ceiling.

"If that didn't announce our presence to GUN, I don't know what will." Paul sighed, covering his face with his hand. Pichu glared at Kirby for no reason at all, and the puffball merely shook his head and closed his eyes.

"Fine, I'll be quiet." Pichu said.

"Follow me. I've uploaded a map from this station's network. I can get us to the cannon's control room in no time." Samus said. She took her helmet from under her arm and put it back on her head, and dashed off down the hallway. The rest of the team got their gears grinding and took off after her.

"Is it just me, or is Samus a lot faster in that heavy suit of hers?" Fox gasped.

"No." Link answered. "She IS faster!"

"Less talking." Samus said, slowing down enough to run between the two, "You need to conserve your energy for running."

"Bloody showoff!" Kirby shouted as Samus took off again.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not gonna get left behind!" Paul said. "Haste!"

"Hey, no fair!" Bowser said.

Paul stuck his tongue out, and walked really fast to keep up with everybody. To him, everybody was moving slow, and he just walked on at a leisurely pace.

They went on for a few minutes until they hit an intersection, where things started to get REALLY interesting.

Just when they reached the middle of the crossway of four different hallways, four shields dropped from the entrances and slammed into the ground with a shudder. The force of the doors impacting the ground threw everybody off their feet, and Paul made a show of trying to regain his balance by pin wheeling his arms everywhere. He finally stumbled and toppled over on his back.

Just seconds after the shutters sealed themselves with a hiss, everybody's ears popped.

"They're depressurizing the area!" Matt shouted, "If we don't get out fast, we'll pop or suffocate!"

"Which one!?" Kirby screamed in a panic.

"Whichever one happens first." Dr. Mario replied.

"This won't be enough to stop me." Samus growled, charging up her arm cannon.

Behind one of the shutters, GUN soldiers flooded into the hallway and armed themselves with an assortment of weaponry. As soon as they received the signal, the doors were going to open and reveal the weakened group of smashers. It was their job to finish them off in their extra-weakened state.

A gigantic purple-blue lightning bolt laced with phazon ripped through the shutter with an explosion, and the whole battalion of soldiers were vaporized.

When the smoke cleared, everybody was staring at Samus, terrified.

"...THAT...Was my Wavebuster." Samus said.

She waited patiently for them to regain their senses, and once they were sufficiently recovered they took off down the newly opened pathway.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-Radiant Garden-

-2:00 AM-

Things were rather boring back at the Smasher's 'camp in Radiant Garden. Falco, Midna, Pit, Jun, and Sora took up residence in Ansem's old laboratory, taking turns with the old computer. The computer, which was being used to monitor the small town nearby, was also performing an additional task.

Using the full extent of its computing processes, it located and decoded passing GUN messages, and the team acted as the middlemen between GUN's innermost secrets and Meta Knight, whom they reported to with their findings.

Only, GUN was getting wiser to everything the Smashers did, secret or not.

Sora was the person on duty at the moment, sitting in front of the computer. Instead of keeping watch like he should have been, he was taking a snooze cruise down the river of dreams.

GUN, or even their allies, didn't always come in with their guns blazing.

While Sora continued sawing his logs, a door to his right slowly cracked open and admitted entrance to a shadowy silhouette. The figure noiselessly approached the sleeping boy, and raised a long, blade-like arm to attack.

Sora moved his head to the side and the yellow blade missed his entire head just by an inch, and the ring of steel on computer keyboard shook the keyblade wielder to his senses. He saw the man in front of him, and gave a surprised shout.

The Valuan Assassin, realizing very quickly that his cover was blown, took off out of the door he entered through. Sora jumped off his seat and dashed down the short passage that led into the lab. He burst into the circular room with a crash, and scared everybody inside silly.

"Some dude in red tights with puffy hips, a red helmet, and gigantic yellow blades for arms just tried to kill me!" Sora screamed, spooking everybody out even more.

"I'm sorry, but could you pass that by me again?" Falco asked.

"Lay off the sugar and caffeine before you go to sleep-" Midna said, "Hey, wait! What were you doing, sleeping!? Lousy bum!"

"How did you know I was sleeping?" Sora asked accusingly. Pit just shrugged his shoulders.

"Time for a shift change, by the looks of it." Falco replied, smug.

"Good idea, you take his place bird brain." Midna said.

"Hey! I wasn't volunteering!"

"I-I'll do it." Jun offered, "I'm not very tired, as it is."

"Go ahead, be my guest." Midna said, "As long as the job gets done and Meta Knight doesn't jump up my rear, I don't care who does the work."

"Then why don't you try it for a change?" Falco answered heatedly.

"Shut up." She said, grabbing his beak with her hair.

"Thphanks." Falco murmured out the side of his beak as Jun got up from her sleeping bag and stretched.

"No problem. I'd say it's my turn." Jun said.

"Don't ignore me." Sora sobbed, "A random dude wearing tights just tried killing me! SERIOUSLY! How can you expect me to just go back to sleep!?"

"You could try counting clouds!" Pit suggested.

"I don't know where you came from-"

"Skyworld."

"Skyworld, whatever." Sora said, rolling his eyes, "But down here on planet Earth, we count _sheep_, not clouds. You can't even see the sky inside here!"

"I was only trying to help..." Pit sighed.

"You can stay up and guard Jun from the tights wearing dude Sora is so scared of, if you like." Midna said.

"I'm staying up, too!" Sora shouted.

"Leave me out of this." Falco begged hoarsely.

"Then let's just have us an all-night party while we're at it!" Midna said, "Looks like nobody wants to sleep."

"Do YOU want to sleep, Ms. Midna?" Pit asked innocently.

"The Twili don't sleep." she replied. Sora and Falco shared a quick look, and then sagged limply on their feet.

"I'll be in here if anybody needs me." Midna continued. "If the Keyblade wielder is so scared of this...random guy that he can't get to sleep, i'll keep and eye out for him."

"You're so mean." Sora mumbled as he shuffled out of the room. He and Falco made their way into the computer room where Jun was waiting for them.

"Midna's so bossy." Falco commented.

"I'm more worried about this assassin Sora said he saw." Jun said.

"He entered through that door, and he would have killed me if I hadn't moved my head at the last second." Sora said, pointing at the other entrance.

"It's still open." she observed. "I thought that door was always locked?"

"It IS usually locked." Falco said.

"Do you trust me now?" Sora asked hopefully.

"Oh, wait!" Falco laughed, and slapped his head, "I left it open today 'cause it was hot inside! Silly me!" Sora anime-fainted on the floor. Jun was looking around the room for proof of Sora's encounter. When she looked at the keyboard a second time, she saw the gash in a few of the keys.

"The keyboard's damaged." Jun said, pointing at the damaged appliance.

"That's right. My head was resting on the keyboard when the guy came in and took a swing at me." Sora explained.

"Then we may be in danger." Jun said, "We MUST locate the assassin and..."

"Open up a whole crate of Butt-Kicking!" Falco said striking a battle stance.

"I'll be back. I'm going to tell Midna about the keyboard." Jun said as she left. When she was gone for a second, she popped her head back in the room. "And don't do anything."

When she was really gone, Falco smirked evilly, "She can't tell me what to do. I'm going after that Boogey Man."

"Can't you wait for just a few seconds!?" Sora asked in exasperation

"Nope. See ya, poser." Falco said. He walked over to the door and opened it all the way before running out of the room.

"Can't let him get killed." Sora sighed, following him shortly after.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-The colony ARK-

Ganondorf glided across the ground with the aid of his dark powers, and tossed a hapless soldier into the air with an uppercut. While the soldier was still in the air Ganondorf flew with his back facing the ground and he kicked the guy a few times before spinning like a tornado and slamming him into the ground with his foot. His foot hit the ground and he kicked off to rocket back into the air right as a few soldiers fired rockets at him. He grabbed one and then dove back towards the ground with the missile aimed right at a group of soldiers.

While Ganondorf was busy beating the living crap out of some soldiers in the background, Matt and Link fired bullets and arrows as fast as they could, respectively. Ness used his bat and whacked people in their shins and burnt them up with PK fire. Paul protected everybody by keeping the excess soldiers away with a wall of wind at all of the entrances.

Samus fired her grapple beam and cracked it through the air like a whip, hitting a few people in front of her and burning them to a crisp. Next, the soldiers formed a ring around her and rushed her. She countered by ducking really fast and knocking them all over with a sweep kick. Some clung to her still, and her body game off a huge blue flash before they were sent away, writhing and screaming in pain as lightning coursed through their bodies. She shot her grapple beam at a walkway above and pumped a few thousand volts into the metal and knocked the wind out of all the soldiers on it, and then pulled the whole thing down with a spurt of superhuman strength. The steel cables on one end snapped and the end near Samus fell above her. She rolled away before the walkway could crush her, and Bowser assumed a position at the bottom of the newly created ramp. He batted the soldiers aside as they came down the slide screaming and didn't have any difficulties until the last soldier came down. He aimed his machine gun at Bowser's face and screamed while shooting him and sliding down the slide. Bowser roared and shielded his face with his arm and spun around, accidentally slamming the man in the chest with his tail and sending him flying.

"How close are we to getting out of here!?" Ness asked, shooting a powerful PK Maelstrom attack at an armored soldier.

"I don't know!" Samus replied, "At this rate we'll be too tired to continue if we don't escape!"

"I'm out of ideas, so don't ask me." Matt said, shooting a soldier in the head with an ice bullet.

"I have a few..." Samus answered. She emitted a shockwave that knocked all the soldiers around her over, and then shot her grapple beam once more, but at a gigantic transformer. "I hope you people can see well in the dark!" Samus yelled. She flashed white, and then the whole room lit up with a brilliant explosion of sparks before going dark.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sora and Falco were walking around on a circular platform, looking for the assassin.

"Dead end, and there's no way he could have escaped." Falco huffed, crossing his arms.

"Don't be stupid." Sora said, "Assassins are unrivaled at hiding. Maybe he's still here and we can find him?"

"If he's so good at hiding, then how do we find him?" Falco asked, annoyed.

"There will be no need for that." The assassin in question stated as he walked out of the shadows from underneath the stairs.

"...Well, at least skilled assassins are hard to find." Sora reiterated.

"My job is to kill the five of you and report back to HQ." The assassin said simply, "I'm a man of little patience, so let's get started already." He raised his two bladed arms and crossed them across his chest, and then dashed forward at blinding speed. Sora just barely blocked the first strike when the assassin made a second slash at his exposed side.

"Not happening, pal." Falco replied, blocking the slash with a flash of his reflector. Sora took advantage of the assassin's surprise and bashed him in the helmet with the end of his keyblade. The trio broke apart and tensed as they prepared for the inevitable battle.

Sora and the assassin clashed blades again, except the assassin caught Sora's blade in between his own and made a scissor like movement that sent the keyblade flying. Falco tackled the keyblade master out of the way with Falco Phantasm before the assassin could decapitate him and fired a few lasers as they skidded away. The assassin deflected all of the lasers and dashed at them again. Sora called his keyblade back with a flash of light and threw it with a fling of his arm, and once again the keyblade rang off the assassin's helm. Falco paralyzed him with a blaster shot and Sora caught his keyblade just in time to perform a powerful slashing attack on his head. He stumbled but quickly regained his senses and fired a sword beam at Falco before he could reflect it.

"GWUAH!" Falco yelped as the beam sliced him in the chest. Sora gasped in surprise and was about to heal him, but his lapse of attention earned him a nasty blow upside the head from the safe side of the assassin's head. He was about to stab him through the heart when a pulse of orange energy enveloped him and paralyzed him.

"What the ****!?" The assassin cursed as he struggled to move his disabled body.

"You're not going anywhere." Midna answered.

"Let me handle him." Pit said, "I'll show him how a man Really fights with two swords!"

"Don't get in over your head!" Midna snapped, but her warning fell on deaf ears. Pit leapt over the railing and soared towards the assassin with both of his swords spinning in his hands. The Valuan assassin broke free from the disabling energy in time to parry Pit's first attack, and the two went head to head in a furious swordfight. Pit thrust both of his swords forward like vicious fangs and the assassin deflected them by throwing his arms to the sides. He slashed at pit with a quick vertical slash that the angel commander blocked by raising both of his swords. The assassin then slashed with his second blade, and Pit dodged by backing up really fast.

"Let me help!" Sora insisted.

"You take care of Falco!" Pit said, leaning to the side to avoid a diagonal attack. Sora growled and did as he was told, and worked to revive his avian ally. The two swordfighters slashed and swiped wildly at each other and caused a huge racket as their swords rang off of each other, often many times in one second. The assassin finally nicked Pit on the shoulder and left an ugly red gash that started oozing red. Pit shouted in pain, but forced his body to keep fighting. He put his blades back together to form a bow, and started slashing again with his new bowstaff...thing. The change of battle style threw the assassin for a loop and soon his clothing was sliced here and there.

"Angel Ring!" Pit cried. He spun his bowstaff really fast and formed a glowing ring of light. He skidded forward and the assassin tried blocking the incoming attack but his blades were tossed away and he recieved a couple of ugly gashes himself. He broke free from the attack and thrust both of his swords forward and caught Pit's weapon and stopped the attack. While Pit was disarmed, the assassin focused energy into his weapons and fired dual sword beams into Pit's chest at point blank range. Pit yelled again in pain as the force of the attack sent him flying back. He spread his wings in an attempt to slow his momentum, but in a surprise maneuver the assassin crossed his arms and slashed very fast. Both of the blades came off and shot towards Pit, and pierced his vulnerable wings. The swords carried him straight into the wall and tacked him up like a bulletin, and he nearly bit his tongue off to keep from screaming.

"Wevlen!" The assassin cried, thrusting a black gloved hand forward. Blue light gathered on his hand and exploded into a massive tri-cyclone of wind energy.

"What is it with you villains, always piercing my wings?" Pit lamented as he yanked the offending weapons out of his now-badly damaged wings. He dove to the side before the tornadoes could suck him up and folded his wings against his back to prevent them from getting him sucked up, and to also protect them.

"Let's see how you like this, then!" The assassin declared as the angel approached him with weapons drawn. "Eternum!"

"Dodge that attack! NOW!" Falco bellowed, just as he revived. Pit looked up as a dome of silvery needles formed above his head, followed by a gigantic spike that looked the same. He had no chance of evading the attack, and did the last thing he could. He raised his Mirror Shield.

"MWA HA HA!" The assassin laughed as the silver needles converged on the angel. The big one came down last, and reflected off of a sloped green surface. He barely had enough time to realize what was happening, and just when it clcked, the silver needle passed through his chest and killed him.

He fell down on his face with a CLANK, and lay sprawled out on the ground. Midna, Jun, Sora, and Falco blinked a few times, surprised.

"That...Was sweet." Falco said, "You did it, Pit!"

"I-I'm alive?" Pit asked warily, opening his eyes which were previously slammed shut.

"I'll be darned if you're dead." Midna said, "That was some superb fighting there, Commander Pit, but you might want to see a doctor about that shoulder and your wings."

"You know what?" Pit replied, weakly, "I don't feel so good..."

"I think i'm starting to feel a little ill myself." Falco murmured.

"You look pale." Sora observed, "You did lose a lot of blood."

Pit nodded weakly and tried to smile, but his face froze and he fell over, breathing heavily. Falco also started to have trouble breathing, and gave a pained gasp before falling back to the ground, unconscious. Midna was there in a flash, and she hovered over Pit's body to examine his wounds. After a tense moment she gave an angry hiss like an enraged cat.

"What's wrong?" Jun asked worriedly as she finally reached the group after running down the whole staircase.

"They've been poisoned." Midna snarled, looking at Pit's wings with half open eyes. "A delayed type of poison. We better get help now, or we're going to have to explain to a few people why they lost their friends."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back at the ARK, the crew stopped running down the tunnel when the lights came back on.

"You officially scare me." Paul said, backing away from Samus now that the need to stay close was unnecessary.

Samus laughed bitterly before answering. "Sometimes, I scare myself, kid. Not everybody wants to wake up and look at_ this_ in the mirror every morning." She said, pointing at her face behind her visor.

"You get used to the evil look after awhile..." Ganon said, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "...I think it actually looks cute. It befits a ruthless bounty hunter as yourself."

Samus gave him the super-charged evil look, and Ganon almost swore he could feel the air crackle around him.

"I was just kidding." Ganon muttered nervously. He'd been burned by that look before, and wasn't very eager to experience it again.

"I love how you knocked the power out, Samus." Matt said, "Next time I get stuck somewhere like this, i'll try that stunt myself."

"Thank you." Samus said sincerely.

"How close are we to the cannon now?" Fox asked.

"I think we're close, I can feel a huge amount of energy." Ness replied.

"I think I can feel some of it, too." Luigi said, awed.

"That's the chaos emeralds for you. Imagine what we could do if we had them back in our grasp." Matt said.

"We're powerful enough without that kind of temptation." Link suddenly snapped, his eyes blazing. "I say we use them for the gummi ship like we were doing, before."

Matt winced. "True, true." he replied, "We COULD use a bit of a boost for our ship."

Link shook his head as if he were trying to remove something from his head, and looked back up apologetically. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what came over me..."

"We should hurry." Sheik urged, scanning the whole group with her crimson eyes, "We need to stop them, our time is running out."

"We have about an hour before they fire that cannon." Samus answered idly, "Plenty of time."

"Plenty of time!?" Yoshi screeched, "That's too soon for me to be comfortable with!"

"Then please, let me surprise you some more." Samus said.

"We've got a schedule, let's keep it." Bowser growled, "It's called 'Don't let GUN blow up our mansion'!"

"I get it. It's my mansion too, and they're not going to finish this scheme of theirs." Samus said seriously, "I've lost enough already without them taking my home away."

Touchy subject. Everybody had the sense not to ask her all of what she meant, and the group made their way to the control room. Thankfully, they passed the majority of GUN resistance, and in a few minutes the reached the odd cylyndrical room. The walkway led to a pillar in the middle of the room where the computer was, and behind the computer all seven chaos emeralds were housed in seven sockets on the pillar.

"Freeze!" A soldier suddenly shouted. He and a few other soldiers jumped out of their hiding places and aimed DEW weapons at the smashers.

"Please." Fox said, taking out his staff.

Suddenly an odd thrumming noise filled the air, and the whole team couldn't move.

"What!?" Link shouted, trying to move his arms.

"Sonic traps!" The soldier laughed, "Good ol' Eggman, as you call him, made them for us!"

"_Sonic_ traps?" Matt asked.

"Yeah...Uh, they were originally for capturing Sonic, but since they use supersonic sound waves to lock your muscles, they're also called sonic traps."

"Scanning:" Samus's visor said, displaying a crosshair. She looked around the whole room as the crosshair locked onto all of the devices, and activated a mind-link with her powersuit. "Activating direct neuro-control grid" Her visor declared.

The soldiers were laughing at their success, when Samus suddenly moved, albeit a little jerky, and five bright flashes later all of the traps were destroyed. Chaos broke loose as the smashers fell on the hapless soldiers, and Samus deactivated her neuro-grid thingy. Within seconds most of the soldiers were rounded up, all except for one, and he had the chaos emeralds in his hands.

"Take one step toward me, and I go super!" He threatened.

Samus laughed. "Go ahead. I'll make you regret it."

"You asked for it!" The soldier yelled. He started drawing power from the emeralds into his body, and after he absorbed enough power, his body flashed with a golden aura. He floated up into the air, and quickly discovered he didn't know how to control his new powers. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Here, let me help you down." Samus said. She lassoed him with her grapple beam, and just as she released it she activated her Hyper mode. The tendril of energy crackled through the air and snared him by the waist, and he started screaming in pain as Samus siphoned all of his energy into her own body. He lost his glow and Samus' suit turned a bright gold color.

"Whoo! Super Samus!" Kirby cheered randomly.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now." Samus said, pointing a golden gun barrel at the soldier's head. She was about to shoot him, when Matt placed a hand on her metallic shoulder.

"We did what we came here for." Matt said, "Let's not make cold blooded murderers of ourselves."

She seemed to mull over his statement for a moment, and then nodded her assent. She lowered her gun and gave off a bright flash of energy, and the Chaos emeralds re-appeared. "You're right."

"I was starting to wonder if there was a away to stop somebody super without the Master Emerald." Matt said, cocking his head, "Can't believe it's so simple: Just siphon all the energy away."

"I'm more worried about Eggman, though." Fox said, "We kicked his butt, and he's back on his feet, helping GUN, of all people."

"Remember how Zelda was paralyzed back in Hyrule?" Sheik asked, "They used those Sonic traps there too."

"Maybe they finally ARE starting to get serious." Matt said, "We'll have to be careful. I'm surprised how you were able to move, even while paralyzed, Samus."

"It's all in the suit." Samus replied, "I used a neuro-connection chip in my suit. It's backup in case I get mortally wounded or else paralyzed, and lose the ability to move. My suit links up with my nerves and I direct my suit with my thoughts."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Yes, very...Normally, it's only to be used as a last ditch effort to survive, but now, If I just lose control of my lightning power for one moment while i'm connected to my suit, I'd be a steamed vegetable. Get my meaning?"

"All too clear." Luigi said, shuddering.

"Well, let's get back and tell Meta Knight the good news." Ganon said, punching his fist, "Mission Success!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ok, people told me they like the bold notes, like this, so i'll leave them as is.**

**Paul: Kinda seemed rushed at the end, eh?**

**A little. I'm sorry this update was so slow, but to be honest I was hardly bothered to work on this at all. I seem to get brain farts when working on sonic-related arcs.**

**Roy: Do brain farts smell?**

**NO.**

**Falco: What about me and Pit?**

**Pit: WHAT about me, Mr. Falco?**

**Falco: We got freakin' poisoned! What happens to us now!? HUH!?**

**You'll have to see next chapter. As an author, let me give you advice: KEEP YOUR TEAMS SMALL! I'm having so much trouble keeping track of everybody in one place i'm splitting them up. Seriously. Just keep reading. I'll update again soon, FOR REAL, this time. This story is about to get a tad bit more serious...**

**So, anyways. I'll start my Get Snake story if I get one more request to see it, but I need to get my lazy butt working. I was working on my FF:CC game, so that's to blame for SOME of my lazziness. Note that most of this chapter was written JUST before I posted it, and not a bit at a time over a two-week period.**

**Thanks for listening to me, but I've got to sleep. It's 4:44 in the morning.**

**So, like, GOOD NIGHT, and all that.**

**-Shining Riku-  
**


	60. Schemes of an Evil Man

**Paul: Yay! Reviews!**

**Matt: Keep writing, regardless of how many reviews ya get.**

**Kirby: Yah, you reader dudes, we're keepin' Paul here as a hostage so the author will write more often.**

**Paul: This sucks major dork.**

**Shiek: I forgot to mention that Paul's the-**

**Link: They know that already.**

**Sheik: Before I was rudely interrupted, Paul's also the author and therefore he shall never be free until he finishes this series!**

**Paul: Did I mention that this sucks major dork?**

**Ness: Many many times.**

**Fox: Anyhow, our dear friend made the startling announcement at the end of last chapter's notes that he was gonna split us up! What the heck does he mean by that?**

**Paul: Before everybody kills me, I have a few questions to ask. Is my sentence structure any better, Kbxshadow? Last time ya commented on it i've been trying to fix it ever since. I sure hope i'm doing a better job. And...Seriously, people. One more vote for Get Snake, please!**

**Snake: He's just trying to find another way to torture me. Get him!**

**Paul: Wait! Wait! I gotta talk about the chapter really quick!**

**Samus: Make it REALLY quick.**

**Paul: I DON'T WANNA DIE! I'LL UPDATE FASTER!**

**Fox: And?**

**Paul: And what?**

**Fox: We splitting up or not?**

**Paul: Yes. Now, while I still have five seconds to breathe before I am tortured within an inch of my life, today's chapter will go behind the scenes and explore what's happening within the GUN forces. In case yeh didn't notice...I, uh cut last arc short. Yesh, yesh I did. That was all I needed, and so the arc got cut. short. But it was still finished, so no harm was done. The smashers have the chaos emeralds back! Yay!**

**Samus: And everybody agreed to let me use them on you! Yay for big explosions!**

**Paul: ROY! Help me!**

**Roy: Dood, I wanna see the 'splosions too!**

**Paul: Why did I ask you in the first place? Dr. Mario! At least bring me back to life!**

**Dr. Mario: I don't perform miracles. Sorry, kid.**

**Paul: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Master Hand: I'll take over from here. There will be three new arcs coming up, and each chapter will have a bit from each one. Hope you like the new arrangement!**

**-Chapter XXXXXX-**

**-Dark Scheming-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

**-GUN Headquarters-**

-Time: Unknown. Location: Are you going to keep asking? Unknown.-

-KNOWN Location: GUN Commander's office-

The commander was waiting with his back turned to a table behind him. His arms were crossed behind his back and his eyes were closed. Any minute now, he was expecting his generals to meet him in this very room. Their last two missions to incapacitate the smashers were...somewhat contradictory. Those darn Smashers were still a few points ahead in this war, but HE had the Dark Mirror and the Third Eye. Unfortunate that the smashers should obtain those chaos emeralds. Their power would have been most welcome. If today went well...He would have three dark artifacts vs the Smasher's puny and utterly insignificant emeralds.

"We're here." General Thomas announced as he and two others walked into the room.

"Good, then we may begin." The mad commander replied. The three generals then took their seats, one rather slower than the rest. He was really old and had a sunken, pale face, and wore a great deep green cape that surrounded his whole body. He gave a pained moan as he sank into his designated seat, and the other general, a handsome cross between Thomas and Verrel, made an annoyed face.

"Keep your bellyaching to yourself, Bartholomew." He drawled.

"*Cough* Can't help the fact i'm old. Doesn't mean i'm any more useless than you are, Petraeus."

"Would the two of you pipe down?" Thomas asked angrily, "The Commander has something to say."

"Thank you, Thomas." The commander said, "It is true, I called the three of you here today for a very important reason."

"This is getting silly." Petraeus said, "Get on with it."

"Shut up, idiot. You can't talk to everybody like that, it'll getcha killed! *Cough*" Bartholomew muttered.

"Yeah, shut up, General Petraeus." the commander said coolly, "I won't be interrupted again or you'll meet a similar fate to that of the late General Verrel. Need I remind you he was your second cousin? Maybe this attitude problem runs in the family. Speak again out of turn and I will kill you."

Petraeus scoffed and rolled his eyes, but otherwise did as he was told and remained quiet.

"Now, for the reason we are here." the commander said, "As you are all well aware, the smashers have been waging war against us these past few difficult months. We have struggled to keep their terroristic acts of violence under control. Each and every time they hit us like a gale of death, and we have never been able to stop them. This is where we have messed up. We have been working alone, unaided except by a few countries sympathetic to our plight. As it is, even they are losing confidence in us and backing away. Anybody that has opposed the smashers has been destroyed and eliminated, all in the name of good."

"Don't get me started on 'Good'" Petraeus lamented.

"It annoys me too." The commander agreed, "They've done nothing but disrupt the peace that we strive for. But! I have finally found the solution to our problems."

"May I ask what that would be, Your Honor?" Bartholomew wheezed.

"I would _die_ to hear what you have in mind." Thomas smiled, trying to retain his excitement. "Crushing those filthy worms would make this world such a better place."

"It would." The commander replied, "While you incredible men have been doing your work, which I must say has been most successful, I have been doing things of my own."

"Besides doing paperwork?" Petraeus asked, tapping his fingers on the table with a bored look.

"Besides doing paperwork." The commander nodded, "I've been going in over the smasher's heads and behind their backs, and i've finally found somebody that can help us eliminate them once and for all. Would you please enter the room, sir?"

Whoever it was, they obliged quickly. The door opened up, and a man wearing black tights with white armor on his shoulders stepped into the room. The generals watched in awe and fear as he spread one single ebony wing into the air, and a few times their eyes flicked to the massive katana sheaved at his hip.

"You may or may not have heard of me before, but I am Sephiroph." The white-haired man stated in a cold voice.

"I understand that you told me you were in possession of something incredible, something you found while exploring?"

"You mean this petty pebble?" Sephiroph asked mockingly as he held out a a gray, smoky crystal in his hand. "You can have the measly bauble. It's supposed to be the Heart of Chaos, but I have no use for such an artifact."

"I have seen this in my visions!" The commander exclaimed. "The smashers were trying to obtain it for their own dastardly use!"

"You can do anything you like with it, but under one condition." Sephiroph said.

"What?"

"Cloud, my nemesis, has joined the fools you're trying to hunt. I'm going to kill him, and if anybody interferes I will make sure they suffer a most painful eternity in the worst place I can imagine up." Sephiroph threatened vehemently. "I can use that stone too, and for that I shan't hesitate. Don't make me angry, little flesh bag."

"This will knock you down a few pegs, then." The commander said in a distorted voice. His flesh started peeling away from his forehead again and revealed the golden eye crystal embedded in his skull. Sephiroph watched the process through to the end with interest before commenting.

"Nice plastic surgery. What's on your mind today, then?"

"I would ask the same thing, except I already know." The commander said.

Sephiroph glared at him. "You will respect the privacy of my mind, you foul little beetle."

"As you wish." The commander said, "But, now that I own the Heart of Chaos-"

"What's that thing in your head?" Sephiroph asked.

"It is the Third eye." The commander replied. Sephiroph's eyes flashed with a hungry light for one second, but just like that, the look was gone.

"Nice toy." He commented.

"If you do not mind, I think I will use this stone to cause some chaos for those smashers. I always have wanted stronger soldiers. The smashers could_ breathe_ on them and kill them!"

"I've seen it firsthand." Sephiroph replied, bored looking.

"But not anymore!" The commander cried, "I won't be able to make them invincible, I realize that, but hard to kill? This shall bring my empire to even greater heights! BWA HA HA HA!"

"Just ignore him." Petraeus said, glancing at Sephiroph lazily, "He's been like this a lot lately."

"Maybe he's touched in the head." Sephiroph said, smiling slightly and putting a finger up to his head. Surprisingly enough, the commander didn't seem to notice the playful banter, or he just didn't care. Evil insane people are strange like that.

"Now, for my first act." The commander said breathlessly. He held the smoky crystal in his hand and tried summoning up energy from within it's bottomless void, but came up with nothing. "What the devil? The confounded thing won't work!"

"Ooh, too bad." Sephiroph whistled mockingly, "Looks like taking over the world will have to wait awhile, eh?"

"No! It will work for me! I demand it!" The commander howled in anger, stamping his foot on the ground, "It will obey me!" Suddenly, his forehead gave a golden flash, and the heart of chaos responded with a gray blast of light. A gray rift exploded from the stone and threw everybody aside with its creation. The rift howled and screeched as it tore the fabric of space and time around it, and as everybody watched, something materialized within its depths and formed a black silhouette. The rift finally gave one last ear-piercing wail before imploding, and the figure previously suspended in midair crashed to the ground with a grunt.

He landed on one foot and one knee in a crouched down position, and after taking in a deep breath of air, brushed his blond hair out of his eyes and looked at the group gathered in the room before him.

"...You." The commander gasped, surprised.

"You who?" Dhaos asked, confused, "And where is Mario and that cursed Cress Albane!?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back at the halberd, the crew returned with Samus's ship in tow. To saw in the least, a few people thought they were seeing ghosts.

-The Halberd's Bridge-

"I thought you were dead." Meta Knight said in shock, eyes wide.

"I might have been, I wouldn't know." Samus replied, "But look at this: For all I know, maybe I AM dead." She took her helmet off again and displayed her mutated face for all to see, and before any of the others could throw up or pass out her helmet was sealed on her head again.

"My heavens, what happened to you?" Zelda asked worriedly.

"I need some serious girl time, I haven't had any in months." Samus said, "You wouldn't be willing to hang out with me for awhile, would you, Zelda?"

Able to sense her friend's deeper pains, Zelda understood at once. "I'd love to, Sammy." She said, using her friend's old nickname.

"Didn't know you were supposed to be dead." Snake said, scratching his nose, "Don't let loverboy find out, he might flip."

"Somebody likes Samus!?" Pichu shrieked in surprise.

"I won't tell." Snake promised, "But don't think I don't know what I'm talking about. You'd be surprised at how much dirt I've dug up concerning everybody else."

A few people glared at him angrily, trying to imagine what kind of things he might try blackmailing them about. Sheik, on the other hand was slightly impressed.

"Wow, you must be pretty darn good then." She said, "I think that's neat."

"I don't wanna hear it from you." Snake growled, "You...You split personality of Zelda's"

"One thing isn't any different, we both hate you just the same." Sheik and Zelda said at the same time.

"Has anything else happened while we were gone?" Matt asked.

"Nothing much." Meta Knight shook his head, "We have been having trouble with the ship's engines again, all of the travel we've been doing has been putting the engines under a lot of stress and I just found out that the right side line of thrusters on the ship have broken cooling pipes. The whole side is crippled, and we won't be able to do any proper repairs in our current state."

"We need to get our mansion back!" Paul growled, "We can't keep running around like this!"

"I agree." Link said, "We have those emeralds, why can't we just erect a super powerful shield around our moon and rebuild our home?"

Matt gave a whoop. "Link, you've finally got a good idea for once! Good work!"

"I'm just musing." Link replied uneasily.

"An excellent idea." Meta Knight agreed, "But first we must find everybody again and get them back safely."

"I'm going to have to disagree with you there." Ness said, drawing a cold stare from the star warrior. "We can't wait any longer, and as far as we can tell, we've rescued everybody that was in any immediate danger."

"...True." Meta Knight replied grudgingly.

"And there are still many of us missing." Fox said, "We can save them after we're sure we can save ourselves."

"Selfish talk, but dead true." Meta Knight sighed, "Then how does this sound? I take the chaos emeralds along with the majority of our group, and we will do as you said and create a barrier impenetrable to the outside world. After that, we shall build this mansion back up from its sorry state of dereliction and create a base worthy of our use."

"A long winded answer, and one I will back with my fists." Ganondorf said, "I will go with you."

"Keep a good eye on 'im." Link said, winking at Meta Knight, "He still has a bit of a naughty streak in him somewhere."

"Why you-!"

"That is enough." Meta Knight chuckled. "We will split in one day from now, that will give us time to decide who goes where. Is this not fair?"

"It is as good a proposal as any." Matt said, "I accept your terms-Hey, wait, why are we talking like this?!"

"I do not...know." Meta Knight replied hesitantly.

"Just take the stupid emeralds." Matt sighed, thrusting a brown canvas sack tied shut with string into Meta Knight's arms.

"Now...What do we do next?" Luigi asked the team when everybody else left the room."

"We play with fire! Heh heh heh!" Roy laughed stupidly while snapping his fingers and creating spurts of flame.

"For one, we DON'T play with fire." Paul said with a raised eyebrow. He slapped Roy's hand and made him lose focus, causing the fireball in front of him to die with a gasp.

"You kilt it!" Roy wailed before bawling like a baby.

"Get a LIFE, you big baby!" Pichu said, making a noise of disgust.

"I want to know how Sonic is doing." Yoshi suddenly said.

"He's probably doing fine, but now that you mention it, we could use his help." Matt said, stroking his chin.

"Yeah? Well, I'm going to Tellius!" Link said, spinning his sword.

"We're just gonna knock on Sonic's door and ask him to join us." Matt said, "Can't it wait?"

"Ike is in trouble, remember? I know we didn't know him well, but that doesn't mean he should be left to himself. He can use some help."

"Does this mean we're splitting up?" Kirby asked blankly.

"Sure as heck looks like it." Pichu whispered.

The group heaved a collective sigh, and then Matt and Link looked at each other again.

"Let's talk about it in the mroning. I'm going to die if I don't get any sleep."

"That's not a bad idea. We can decide in the morning when we're all refreshed." Link agreed. The two walked out of the room, followed by almost the whole group, but Bowser lagged behind a little, looking at the ground as he plopped one foot down after another.

"Somethin' wrong?" Ness's voice asked from somewhere to his right. He cast a weary eye in the boy's direction and gave a sigh. "Worried about Mario and Peach?"

"How'd you know?" Bowser asked in a tired voice, to which the young psychic replied by pointing at his head and chuckling. "**** people getting inside my head all the time. At least you're not as bad as Mewtwo."

"Yeah, he had a habit of finishing everybody's sentences all the time." Ness laughed. "I'm sure they'll be ok, Bowser. They have to be."

"I've never admitted it, but life's kinda pointless without some little hero messing it up all the time." Bowser admitted ironically, "He's my inspiration, and without that fierce rivalry everything is dull and tedious."

"Even sleeping!?" Ness asked in mock horror.

"Hmm..." Bowser hummed as he stopped to think, "...Well, that's one thing I don't need Mario for! I could always use a few blissful hours of peace."

"Me too." Ness agreed, "I'll see you tomorrow. I don't know if I want to visit Tellius or Sonic..."

"We'll see what happens." Bowser said, nodding his head, "Get on, you scamp. I'm sure you've got some buddies waiting for you somewhere."

"You're right!" Ness exclaimed, pumping a fist into his open palm, "I haven't done anything with the Ice Climbers or Spam and Snurckle in forever! Bye!" At that, he took off on his short legs, and made his way to the room where his friends were awaiting his arrival.

_Kids will be kids..._ Bowser thought idly. _You better be ok, Junior, or your mom's going to kill me. Be safe. And you too, Mario, or i'll get you._ He thought he smelled a faint trace of peach perfume as he inhaled a breath of air, and unbidden thoughts of his late wife and Princess Peach crept into his mind. They both wore the same perfume, and smelled the same...

_You too, Peach. Wherever you are, be safe._

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Most people are familiar with Murphy's law. Whatever can go wrong WILL go wrong.

Meta Knight was up in the bridge as usual, resting in the pilot's seat with his cape wrapped around his body when the ship's transmitter emitted an annoying BEEP! noise.

"Guah...2:30 in the morning?" Meta Knight moaned, looking at a clock near the communication system. He plucked the headpiece off of its resting place and put it next to his mask. "Who is this?" He asked, somewhat harshly.

"Midna." The caller replied shortly. "We've got a situation."

"Tell me everything." The star warrior ordered, now wide awake.

"It's Pit and Falco. We were attacked by an assassin and he wounded them with his swords. Turns out they were coated in poison, and they're burning up."

"Isn't there anybody in Radiant garden that can heal them?" He asked her with a worried tone.

"No. Nobody here has anything strong enough to purge the venom. I've been able to halt it's progress, but I can't stop it for forever. I need help fast, or we're going to get our first casualties in this war."

"I'd perfer it doesn't come to that." Meta Knight replied seriously. "I will send Fina and Paul immediately to help. They should be able to cure Falco and Pit."

"Send a few more." Midna said, tensely, "I can sense more of the assassins coming, and we're not going to be able to defend ourselves. Be quick. I've got to get back to those two or they'll wake up and scream and give our position away."

"Understood." Meta Knight said just before the line went dead. He slapped the transmitter back down in its slot and held his head a moment before shuffling out of the room as fast as his sleepy legs would allow him to move.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Just minutes later he was marching into Fina's room...A rather rude but necessary thing to do. Fina had gathered enough experience in a normal society to know all about indecent exposure. Her reaction to the star warrior's intrusion was instantaneous. She opened her eyes when his boots rapped against the metal floor and couldn't help but shout in surprise. She sat up really fast and wrapped her body in her sheets so quickly that Meta Knight felt a rather strong gust of wind.

Unsure if the wind was actually hostile magic building up, he very carefully wove an explanation together.

"I have received a call from Midna concerning two of our friends, Pit and Falco." He said.

"What about them?" The silvite girl asked shyly from beneath her sheets.

"They're in critical condition as a result of an assassin's poison." Meta Knight elaborated.

"An assassin? What does this have to do with me?" She asked worriedly.

"Midna knows of your healing skills and magic, and she asked for your assistance, nay, demanded it." Meta Knight corrected himself.

"Are they Valuan assassins?" Fina inquired.

"I don't know, she didn't tell me, she was in such a rush." he replied, shaking his head woefully, "She also requested the presence of that mageknight and a few other fighters. You do not object, aye?"

"I'll do whatever it takes to help them out." Fina answered with strong emotion, "They shouldn't have to suffer any longer. I shall go gather a few allies and we'll be ready to leave at a moment's notice."

"I appreciate your enthusiasm." Meta Knight said with sincerity. "And, I apologize for intruding. I should have made myself known."

"It is alright." Fina said consolingly. "No harm was done. Please leave while I get myself dressed."

"As you wish." Meta Knight said. He stepped outside of her room and gently shut the door. After it was closed and gave a satisfying click, he walked down the hallway and stopped a few doors down. Inside, Paul and Luigi were bunked on a four-poster bed, with Luigi on the bottom and Paul at the top. At the moment Luigi was snoring restfully beneath his blanket, his nose wobbling every once in a while when he took an especially deep breath. Paul was sleeping on top of his covers fully dressed, with his left arm dangling over the side and his head close to doing the same.

He walked up to the bed as quietly as he could in the vain hope that he wouldn't scare Luigi to death, and prodded Paul's arm with a gloved hand. The mageknight's eyes flickered open halfway and recognized the shiny silver mask in front of his face, and then shot open all the way.

"Something up?" Paul asked dully, his voice still thick with tiredness.

"Pit and Falco have been attacked by an assassin, and Midna's asking for your help."

"Don't you mean demanding?" Paul asked.

"...Yes." He replied edgily.

"I've worked with her before." Paul said, "I know how bossy she is. Is everybody else ok?"

"As far as I know." Meta Knight said, "Midna was worried about more of those assassins coming and finding them, so I suggest you hurry up and wake up."

"Already awake." Paul answered, jumping out of the bed and landing gracefully on the ground. "Who else am I going with?"

"Fina. And whoever she picks to come along, or anybody that wants to come along."

"Oh..." Paul said. _Good. I can't stand working alone with girls, it makes me feel weird._

Meta Knight noticed his perturbed expression. "Anything wrong?"

"Nah." _Not yet, at least._ "Mind if I take Kirby along?"

"No, am I his babysitter?" Meta Knight asked scornfully, "He is not a baby an I am not his parent. If he will go with you, then yes, do as you please."

"And I was thinking Dr. Mario would be helpful too." Paul said, "If we're dealing with REALLY bad poison, he could still help i'm sure."

"I see. Very well. I must return to the cockpit and attend to some business." Meta Knight nodded. "It is about the time I would wake up to begin my day anyways."

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"So, Why'd you ask me to come again?" Kirby asked Paul.

"I figured we were friends, and that maybe we ought to hang out more?" Paul answered sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Kirby mulled the idea about for a bit before replying.

"Ya know, that doesn't sound half bad..." Kirby said. "Yeah, I guess we are pals! How else would we have fought so well together back in Pherae?"

Paul held a hand out eagerly, and the two pals shook hands, the friendship now official. Dr. Mario was still trying to wake up and rub the sleepiness out of his eyes.

Even though he hadn't been running low on gas like nearly the rest of the team had, he was just about as tired. He was NOT as hard-enduring as his partners were, and was pretty much just human with really good medical know-how and skill with the knife. Fina was wide awake by now, and awaiting the arrival of her choice of companions.

She was soon rewarded. The door to the Docking Bay swung open and two females walked in. Once they came into the light, their silhouettes were splashed with light and their identities were revealed to be that of Lyndis and Sheik.

"Can't you folks give me a break?" Sheik asked rather annoyed before stuffing a crumpet into her mouth.

"Where'd you get that biscuit from?" Kirby asked greedily, his mouth damp with drool.

"Mine!" Sheik shouted protectively, "I'm not royalty, but I was part of somebody that was! Respect my cultured morning cuisine or face my needly wrath!"

Lyn laughed. "Looks like somebody's grouchy. I'm used to getting up early in the morn."

"Good." Fina answered happily. "I'm so glad you two agreed to come with us." Near the back of the group, Paul paled visibly.

"Just promise not to kill us, awright?" Kirby asked cautiously, "Last time we met, you nearly feathered us!"

"I apologize for my actions that day." Lyn sighed, "I guess I was getting hyped up over the battle. I hadn't felt so alive in weeks."

"I'd be able to sympathize completely if I had been locked up myself." Paul tried saying normally, but he sounded a tad bit nervous. "But since I haven't been locked up...I can only imagine."

"What is our mode of transportation?" Dr. Mario asked suddenly.

"Uh...I believe Meta Knight said to take a star shaped ship?" Fina said, unsure.

"Was it a Warp Star Cruiser?" Kirby asked, at which Fina nodded, "That's what we're looking for, then." He replied, pointing a ship resembling a flying saucer. The body was shaped like a star with a clear dome on the top where the cockpit was. There was just enough room for everybody inside, but just barely.

"Kinda looks...Crowded." Sheik said, unintentionally making an understatement.

----------------------------------------------

A few minutes later, everybody was crammed into the cockpit of a ship originally intended for no more than three people.

"Gerrof!" Sheik managed to splutter, spitting Lyn's elbow out of her mouth.

"'Scuse me, but I don't have any more room than you do!" Lyn complained. He face was pressed up against the glass. Kirby sat somewhere on the floor, and he had difficulty avoiding being punctured on Lyn's sword, which was strapped to her waist. Paul was at the ship's controls, getting encouraged by Fina and quickly instructed by Dr. Mario.

"...Do you think it matters I don't have a driver's license?" Paul asked.

"No, I don't think so. Not when lives are at stake." Dr. Mario replied. "Besides, you are not at home, right?"

"Right." Paul said, feeling a bit more confident. "Ok, everybody! Here we go!"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

-Later that morning-

The rest of the team minus Kirby and Paul were assembled, and everybody was wondering how the duo had vanished so quickly and randomly. Some of them had theories of their own...

"M-Maybe Paul got eaten by a ghost!" Luigi mumbled, terrified. He had been sleeping in just the same room as him last night. "What if it comes back and gets me!?"

"Isn't that what your vacuum is for?" Matt asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yeah. You're right." Luigi smiled, relieved that he had a chance of survival now...Albeit slim.

"Now, has anybody decided what they want to do?" Link asked hopefully.

"I'm gonna go visit Sonic." Yoshi said with determination.

"I think I might need to go too." Matt said, "I have ways of 'convincing' that work very well, and I shouldn't go anywhere near a continent like Tellius with Technology like this."

"Understandable." Link replied, agreeing, "...Hey, what about Hyrule, then!?" Matt just shrugged hopelessly.

"I will go to Tellius with mah pal." Roy drawled, slapping a lazy hand down on Link's shoulder.

"I think i'll go there too." Luigi said.

"I hope you'll understand." Fox apologized to Matt as he joined Link's group.

"That's not fair!" Pichu shouted, taking a spot next to Matt.

"Guess i'm going with Matt then." Bowser said, taking his side.

Ness was left over, and everybody was glaring at him.

"...What?" He asked innocently. "I'm not gonna go. Remember?"

Seconds later everybody was fighting over Ness, pulling him by his arms and having a match of Ness-Tug-of-War. Matt's side was winning, mostly, when the door to the room slammed open and Samus strode in.

"...What just happened?" She asked, unbelieving. If her helmet was off, she would have been rubbing her eyes to blot out the image her brain just captured.

"Nothing, nothing." Matt said, whistling suspiciously. The two groups were separated from each other and Ness was still between them, now trying to shorten his stretched and squiggly arms.

"We're splittin' up." Roy announced, smiling like a doofus.

"Huh?" Samus asked, confused.

"We have some business to take care of, and the best way to get it done fast is by dividing up." Link explained, after which he gave the pyromaniac next to him a dirty look.

"Oh!" Samus shouted. "Hey, can I come?"

Matt and Link shot a glance at each other, and then looked back at Samus before replying, "Yes, if you'll come with me." They glared at each other again.

"I think I'll go with Link this time around." Samus answered, pointing at Link's group with her left hand.

"Then I get Ness." Matt said heatedly, dragging the poor psychic across the ground to his side.

"...Isn't our groups small?" Samus asked suddenly, "If we're doing something dangerous we need more members!"

"You're the one woman army, remember?" Link said.

"Where are we going?"

"Tellius."

"...We need more people." Samus said. "I know what GUN's doing there, I've been hacking their transmissions too, you know."

"No, we didn't." Link replied honestly.

"You guys are still tired." Samus said. It was true, they were still tired. "How about taking somebody that ISN'T tired?"

"..." They stayed silent a moment, before Roy spoke up, sounding somewhat sane at last, "How's about Lyon?"

"That grouchy douche?" Link scowled, "He can fight...But...Ok, i'll ask him."

"I don't need anybody else!" Matt shouted, "How hard can it be, knocking on somebody's door!? This is stupid."

"And I get the ship." Link said, moving his eyebrows up and down while smirking evilly. "My group is bigger."

"Fine, we shall take the warpstars." Matt said, his eyes half open and bored looking.

"Heh heh, good luck to everybody then!" Link smiled hugely. His team made their way out of the room to recruit Lyon, and Matt's body tensed up after they left. Suddenly, steam erupted from his ears.

"...Are you ok?" Pichu asked cautiously.

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"It would appear both of us can benefit from this...mutual alliance." Dhaos said, after thinking for a moment.

"As our first part of this alliance, you promise to strengthen my army if I turn custody of Mario over to you?" The commander asked.

"We both hate the smashers." Dhaos said, "I will gladly lend you some of my power, but you must give Mario to me. I will not keep him captured, I will KILL him! He was the one that killed me the second time."

"Second time?" The commander asked, impressed.

"Sounds like it's hard to keep you down." Sephiroph whistled.

"The first two times, this was for the revenge of my people." Dhaos said, looking into the depths of the Heart of Chaos. He looked up before finishing his statement, and his eyes were blazing with power and anger. "But this time, It's _Personal._"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Paul: Oh boy, huh? My friends finally untied me, but it's true, i'll never be able to rest till I finish my debut here on Fanfiction!**

**Fox: And he HAD to split us up! Can you believe it!?**

**Matt: I almost pulled my super cool looking hair out in frustration.**

**Dr. Mario: And when will Roy regain his senses!? His mind is only deteriorating as this goes on.**

**Paul: Funny thing is, after I went and split everybody up like this, i've accelerated the time table a little bit...Hmm...**

**Matt: Whatever that means. Our author's and idiot and it would be a miracle if anybody understood him.**

**Paul: Hey!**

**Link: Anyhow, like he said before, three arcs. What do you people think?**

**Matt: Yeah, how hard can it be? Just paying somebody a visit?**

**Paul: You know i'd never let it be that simple.**

**Luigi: (Sags) I knew it wouldn't be that simple.**

**Paul: I've been wanting to get this chapter out for a long time. I imagine that a few of you are horrified out of your minds, perhaps, and so I won't boggle your minds with long notes. I still want one more vote for my Get Snake series...And I wanna do another Poll, but i'm interested in what you guys would like me to do it on. I just took my SAT and I think that made me a little flamboyant with my vocabulary this chapter, but if I can keep this up i'm going to try keeping the dialogue(sp?) fresh. I enjoy using a wide variety of words. ^_^ Mwa ha ha. So...anyways...Um...Thanks for reading everybody, and I think I got some of my spark back. Don't get your hopes up though...I lie too much (Unintentionally) about when i'll update and stuff to be reliable. I'm gonna try getting 'nother chapter out as soon as my attention span allows me, so I hope you enjoyed today's chapter! I'll see you guys next time!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Please Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**(Criticism is appreciated, as long as it's not strong like black coffee, lol. Flaming sucks Dork.)  
**


	61. News of the Good and Bad kind

**Paul: Lol, Nintendogeek threw black coffee at me. Very witty.**

**Kirby: I thought you hated coffee?**

**Paul: Call me weird but it's dead true. At least, I think it is. I don't like bitter stuff and i'm not a caffeine-holic.**

**Ganondorf: Sacrilege! He hath dissed the coffee!**

**Samus: You drink that stuff so much I swear it's your blood now.**

**Matt: He's the Coffee Vampire!**

**Roy: Egad! I can't let him suck my coffee! NOEZ! MINE!**

**Link: (Annoyed) Every time we say something stupid, Roy's mind rots a few points. Great.**

**Roy: Smorff.**

**Spam: Now he's talking like Snurckle!**

**Snurckle: Dur Furbur!**

**Roy: SMORFF!**

**Paul: This is stupid. Anyways, thanks so much for the reviews, guys! These next arcs are going to be slightly crazy, Lemme tell you.**

**Matt: You guys KNOW it's not gonna be easy to visit Sonic, right? Like, something stupid is going to happen?**

**Ness: It always does! And you jerks dragged me along when I said I didn't wanna go!**

**Pichu: Too bad, eh? Ha ha!**

**Yoshi: That's enough. We need to get started.**

**Paul: But this is fun!**

**Lyn: Get on with it!**

**Sheik: get on with it!**

**Bowser: Get on with it!**

**Dr. Mario: Get on with it!**

**Paul: Ok, ok. This is it, everybody. So sorry I scared everybody's pants off last chapter, but all these twists are necessary. I'm finally fulfilling a few of the things i've been wanting to since I began this story. Anyways, uhm...Poll ideas! If nobody offers any I'll do a Favorite Villain one! But not yet...That one will have to wait. That's not important. I swear i'm forgetting something else I wanted to say, but oh well. Here we go! I hope you enjoy!**

**Oh yeah, I remember now! I want to brawl you people, and i'm finally ready! I've got Wi-Fi! Send me PMs with friend codes, and i'll need to know which time zone you live in so we can make appointments. I WANT TO FIGHT YOU DOODS!  
**

**-Chapter XXXXXXI-**

**-News of the Good and Bad Kind-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"Crikey, this thing sure is cramped." Sheik miraculously managed to mutter.

"Quit saying that." Lyn mumbled, her face still smushed against the glass.

"We're almost there." Dr. Mario said.

"Thank goodness!" Kirby shouted gleefully. He was getting REALLY tired of constantly dodging Lyn's sword.

"...Doy, how do I land this thing?" Paul asked suddenly.

That was not good. The landing strip was just up ahead. Of course, the ship could land on a mustard seed but that was no use if one did not know how the ship worked in the first place.

"Let me do it!" Kirby exclaimed. He leapt from out of the reach of Lyn's evil sword and lunged for the parking lever. He finally managed to grab it, a split second too late. The ship overshot the landing strip and went over the edge of the city (It was built up high on a very vertical ridge, like a fort). When Kirby pulled the lever the ship instantly stopped moving forward and slammed everybody up against thr front of the ship, and then it went straight down.

The simple townsfolk saw the ship zoom over the edge and plummet like a rock, and a few seconds later a huge crash met their ears and a mushroom cloud of dust sprayed upward from where they crashed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You need a sheathe for that dagum sword of yours." Kirby mumbled, rubbing a bruised spot on his side. When they crashed, Lyn's sword found him in the tangle and nearly cleaved his side open but he got lucky and only the blunt edge of the katana hit him.

"Sorry." Lyn apologized, frustrated. Her face was still flat on one side and frozen as a scowl, giving her a very mutated look. The cold glass from flying around in space did its dirty work.

"That was a very painful ride." Fina remarked ruefully.

"We have to go." Dr. Mario urged, "Midna's waiting for us to arrive and save Falco and Pit, remember?"

"Oh man, we're wasting too much time!" Paul said, worried, "We still got here very fast but if we don't get there soon it'll all be wasted time. Follow me, I know where to go this time."

"This isn't going to be like when we were inside the internet, is it?" Dr. Mario asked warrily.

"I know this place for sure." Paul replied, "Don't worry, I finally know what i'm doing."

"Good." Fina smiled, "Let's go save our friends!"

Paul ran off into the streets with his friends in tow, and they made haste as they went on their way to the keep.

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"So, while we're flying to Station Square, what do you guys wanna talk about?" Matt asked over the rush of wind.

"Uh...Dunno." Yoshi replied.

"How's about we shut up and keep our eyes for for his house?" Bowser suggested gruffly from his position nearby atop two warpstars.

"You're no fun." Pichu whined.

"So, how were you gonna convince Sonic to join us again?" Ness asked, absentmindedly kicking the top of his warpstar.

"I never told you?" Matt asked, surprised.

"Nope."

"Heh...I was gonna give Amy a Sonic Radar..." Matt said, raising his eyebrows up and down mischievously.

"Are you sure you're not evil?" Yoshi asked, shocked looking.

"Eh, it won't be so bad for him if he just helps us." Matt said, "'Cause if he does, i'll give _him_ an Amy radar."

"You'd make a good salesman." Ness said, slapping his head.

"Even I'M not that cruel." Bowser remarked, "It doesn't look like you're even giving him a choice!"

"I'm not." Matt said seriously. "I respected his wishes the first time, but War isn't a game, and whether he likes it or not he's a part of this and we need his help."

"Well said." Pichu commented.

"Thank you." Matt said. "Now, let's see if Sonic's ready for us."

----------------------------------------------------

Sonic was antsy. "Ok, Amy, you know what to do, right?"

"Sure as sugar!" Amy smiled happily, clasping her hands and standing on one foot.

_Creepy._ Sonic thought, flashing her a spooked face when she wasn't looking.

He knew this day would come...That's why he had Tails reconfigure that Smash Phone so that it would trace Matt and his group. When they got close, that was Sonic's cue to act. Admittedly, he didn't know what he could do against GUN this time around, and after Eggman vanished when they stopped the ARK from exploding, he couldn't help but think that the evil doctor was finally going to come up with a plan that would succeed.

_Nah...Who am I kidding? This is Eggman we're talking about! Heh heh..._ Sonic thought, trying to reassure himself. It would have worked too, only he still had that unshakeable nagging feeling at the back of his head.

Knock Knock Knock

"Ok, Amy!" Sonic hissed, "Go in the kitchen!"

"We ARE in the kitchen." Amy said.

"D'oh!" Sonic mumbled, slapping himself on the head, "Ok, I hope this works..." He said as he dashed off.

"For one of Sonic's plans, this may actually work." Amy said, seriously, "........I hope he wasn't lying when he said he'd get me a radar that would track him."

"Hello?" Sonic asked in a convincingly surprised voice when he opened the door. On his doorstep stood Matt and his compatriots.

"Hello, Sonic." Matt answered when Sonic's eyes shrank back down to normal.

"Eh...Hello...What're you guys doing here?" Sonic asked curiously.

"It's time." Pichu said, in a dramatic voice.

"Time for what?"

"Time for you to come back, that's what." Yoshi said.

"What!?" Sonic yelped with surprise, "I can't do that!"

"Why?" Matt asked in a threatening tone.

"'Cause! I'm settled down with Amy now!"

"WHAT!?" Everybody shouted, falling over in surprise.

"Wait, why did I anime faint?" Bowser asked, confused, "I don't know what that means!"

"Sonic can't go 'cause he finally married Amy, you idiot!" Pichu shouted in the koopa king's ear.

"And he used to hate her!" Yoshi added.

"Hate is such a strong word." Sonic laughed, "You guys are wasting your time...I can't leave now."

"Oh really?" Matt asked, "What about the people that leave their families to fight in wars that aren't even really theirs, Huh?"

Sonic was rendered speechless. He hadn't thought of this approach. "..."

"Sonic, I know you're brave, but this act of yours is dirty." Matt said, shaking his head, "I know you two aren't married, and Amy keeps peeking at me through the window over there. If this were all true, she'd have come running right out to say hi."

Sonic's eyelid twitched uneasily.

"He's faking it?" Yoshi asked, surprised.

"He is?" Ness echoed.

"He sure is." Matt confirmed with a shake of his head, "What did you promise Amy, Sonic, if she helped you with this?"

"I confess!" Sonic yelled, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat and shaking his head back and forth, "I'll explain!"

------------------------------------------------------

"You're afraid of Eggman doing something while you're gone?" Matt scoffed.

"Yes, he always does that!" Sonic replied with heat, "I admit what I did was dirty, and now Amy wants to kill me. I'll never do it again."

"Good." Matt said, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up on the small table. The crew was located inside Sonic's nearly unused kitchen, and Amy was locked outside of the house, which she was currently trying to break into with her Piko Piko hammer. They were all seated around the table.

"Thank the chaos emeralds I had enough sense to get Tails to reinforce my house with batter-resistant metal sheets." Sonic mumbled, wincing as another thud shook the house.

"You know you could have just asked us for help, right?" Matt asked, taking his feet down and leaning on the table with his elbows.

"...Now that you mention it, I never thought about it. Figured it was just my problem." Sonic admitted sheepishly.

"He works for GUN now." Matt said, seriously.

"He does?" Sonic asked, surprised again, "...Who'd have thought it?"

"Super Smash _Brothers_." Matt said, with emphasis on the last word. "C'mon, your troubles are ours too, and we want to help."

"Weren't you guys supposed to be doing something else?" Sonic asked curiously, "I mean, this house call isn't interupting anything? And where is Link and Paul, and Kirby, and Fox and Luigi?"

"Doing something important." Matt winced.

"You guys didn't have a disagreement or something, did you?"

"No, not at all." Ness said, "We just split up because we figured we could get more done."

"And we have no idea where Paul or that idiot marshmallow are, anyways." Bowser said while he scratched a knot in the wood table, "They vamoosed off to who knows where before we split."

"Oh." Sonic said. "So...This is seriously just a house call? You guys are that bored?"

"We need your help." Matt urged, "Are you going to help us or not?"

"I'd never turn you guys down!" Sonic said, flashing a cocky grin.

"You were trying to just a few minutes ago." Pichu said, blankly.

"...My bad." Sonic sighed, "Yes, I'll help you out. Just promise me that when Eggman makes his move you will be there to help me crack him wide open again."

"We'll be ready to kick a whole army's butt!" Yoshi shouted exuberantly.

"Oh yeah!" Sonic said, pumping his fist, "So, where are we off to now?"

"We're going to head to Tellius and help Link fight GUN off with Ike's aid." Matt said.

"Ike's the guy with the crazy heavy gold sword, right?"

"Uh huh." Ness replied.

"Alright." Sonic said. "There's something I wanted to tell you guys. I've been holding back on you."

"Really?" Bowser asked.

"There's a festival going on back in my old hometown called Mobius." Sonic said.

"...Festival?" Ness asked blankly, "You want us to go to a freaking festival when our friends are in danger!?"

"Tut tut tut!" Sonic said, shaking his finger while wearing a smug expression, "I haven't told you everything yet. There's this mini planetoid that comes by the town every few years. It'll appear out of nowhere in a vortex and drift over the lake near the town, and once it crosses over it vanishes again."

"Why are you telling us this?" Ness said looking as bored as Bowser was.

"It travels through time!" Sonic said, getting right to the point, "There are seven gems hidden on the planetoid that give it its power, and they're called the Time Stones."

"I think i've heard of that." Matt replied, starting to look interested. "You want to go and recover them?"

"Why not?" Sonic asked, "The planet can actually traverse through time on its own. It MADE the Time stones. With that kind of power we'd easily be able to manipulate time. We won't be hurting anything."

"Now look, you've gotten Bowser drooling." Yoshi sighed in disgust as Bowser stared across the table with a greedy look.

"That's not a bad idea." Matt said.

"One word of caution." Sonic said, "The planet has it's own time period, and if we go into it we'll be going by it's rules and not our planet's rules."

"So?" Pichu asked, annoyed.

"People have gone up there and never come back." Sonic shrugged, "Those that do are either very old or younger than when they went. It's a living time paradox, and just visiting it will have consequences. If we do go, we'll have to leave with those Time Stones or we'll be much for the worse."

"Then, it's a risk we'll take." Matt said, "All in favor of going to this festival?"

Bowser's hand was the first up, followed by Pichu's, Yoshi's, Ness', and finally Sonic's.

"Ok! I think Link can wait a day or two while we're off treasure hunting." Matt said, smugly.

Suddenly, the air was rent with a high pitched scream.

"Amy!" Sonic shouted, dashing for the door. He opened it super fast and dashed out, quickly followed by the rest of the smashers. They were out on the little dirt road out front when they heard a laugh, and looked up to see none other than Dr. Eggman. He was floating in his trademark flying machine, and surprise surprise, Amy was caught in a claw and struggling to get free.

"I heard everything!" Eggman shouted so all the world could hear, "I know your plans! Bwa ha ha! I tried getting those Time stones before, but I think the time's ripe for another shot at it!"

"Drop Amy, NOW!" Matt roared, aiming his mecha arm at Eggman and transforming it into a gatling gun. Yoshi laid an egg and readied himself to throw it, Ness tensed his body, Pichu's cheeks crackled threateningly, Sonic took a stance, and Bowser angrily blew out a puff of dust.

"You morons defeated me once before-Hey, why does your dino have a purple spot on his nose?" Eggman suddenly asked, "It wasn't there before!"

"None of your business!" Yoshi shouted, throwing his egg. It was in fact a fart egg, a yoshi's worst type of insult. Eggman yelped in surprise and tried to fly out of the way but the egg hit its mark and released the foul gasses trapped within.

"AUGH! It reeks!" Eggman wailed as tears flowed down his face. While he was distracted, Ness fired his PK Maelstrom attack, but was thwarted when the evil doctor recovered his senses a split second before the attack hit and pressed a button. The orange pillar of spiraling flame and lightning split to the sides as it crashed against an invisible barrier, and Eggman laughed (Also occasionally coughing) while the attack dissipated. Matt grunted furiously and fired a hail of bullets after him as he flew away, and Bowser tossed Pichu after him. The bullets bounced back harmlessly and Pichu was rewarded with a shock-induced headache. Yoshi caught the falling pokemon on his back, and the rest of the team watched as the evil Eggman escaped with the hapless Amy.

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"Ha ha, I got the ship!" Link chuckled maniacally as he and his team walked toward the Gummi Ship, "Matt's not gonna be around, so i'll get to-"

"_I'm_ driving the ship in his stead." Fox reprimanded him, "I'll only let you drive if we either want to get killed, or evade enemy fire."

"Aww!" Link whined.

"You just saved me a heart attack." Luigi sighed with relief, wiping sweat off his brow.

"Let's head to Crimea first." Samus said, "That should bring us close to Ike."

"You sure sound like you have a plan, unlike the rest of this bunch." Lyon replied grouchily. He glanced to the side towards Roy, who waved, and the prince just scowled and returned his attention to a cup of coffee that was in his hand.

"Peanuts." He giggled annoyingly, "I want Peanut Coffee!"

"Go away." Lyon muttered, almost completely absorbed in his coffee now.

"Gimme dat!" Roy screamed angrily, lunging for the cup of coffee. Lyon reflexively yanked his coffee away from the grabbing hands, and when Roy slammed into him after not avoiding the collision, the coffee erupted from the cup in a thick stream and splashed in the prince's face. He yowled in pain and wiped the offending liquid off his face while kicking Roy away, and when enough of the coffee was wiped off he pulled a staff out and tended to his wounds.

"Roy, stop this foolishness." Link moaned.

"I want hot peanut juice." Roy cried, breaking down in the middle of a flood of tears.

"This isn't happening..." Fox sighed, slapping his head.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Roy was still crying, even after the team had been flying for at least an hour on the Gummi ship. He had used up all his tears, but his body still shook with dry sobs, and he hid in the back of the cockpit like a whipped dog.

"I'd feel sorry for him if I finished my coffee." Lyon said, sinking back into his seat. His eyes were baggy as if he hadn't gotten any sleep, which was the case.

"So much for bringing somebody wide awake." Link sighed.

"At least we will still be able to help Ike out." Samus said.

"We haven't seen him in months." Link said, "I hope he's doing well."

"Ooh, I'm sure he is." Samus replied, "Else, why would GUN side with Begnion and team up to wipe him and the laguz out?"

"Laguz?"

"Laguz are people that can morph into animals and fight." Samus explained, "They usually have physical characteristics like whiskers or cat ears. Each race has its own...features."

"What kind of animals can they turn into?" Link asked, curious.

"Well, there's the beast tribes, the bird tribes, and the dragon tribe."

"Beasts and bird?" Link asked again, "Dragons are obvious, but there are more than one type of beast?"

"Yes, they can transform into cats, tigers, and lions. The bird tribes are hawks, ravens, and herons."

"Interesting." Link said, scratching his chin.

"And...they refuse to fight unless if they're in beast form." Samus added.

"I have a surprise for them, then." Link chortled.

"He just might." Fox agreed.

"Wake me when we get there." Lyon moaned, instantly falling asleep and snoring.

"Boring." Luigi said.

"Anyways, why did you want to come?" Link asked Samus.

"..."

"Well?"

"I...Because I can." She answered, crossing her arms. "If destroying GUN with my phazon powers isn't a good enough reason to keep the phazon ooze inside from eating me up, then I don't know what is."

"I guess it's good enough." Link said, shrugging, "It's good to have you."

"Thanks. It feels good, really being wanted." Samus replied, "I still can't believe the Galactic Federation was stupid enough to join GUN."

"All the government related parties joined to form a world governorship." Fox said, "You can't blame them just because they were all taken in by the charms of a madman."

"It would be so easy to." Link sighed.

"I wonder how many of them would be willing to turn away if they knew the truth?" Luigi asked, "If we could get them to see the truth..."

"That's a fabulous idea!" Fox exclaimed, "I know that there has to be a few officials that know what they are doing is wrong. If we can find them and talk to them, we could garner ourselves a few allies!"

"Let's start with the little guys first, like our friends." Link said. "Once we've located all our friends, then we'll be ready to go on to the next step."

"Ok." Luigi simply replied.

"Oh bother, I cannot sleep with all this racket." Lyon mumbled, "I'm sorry i've been such an insufferable grouch."

"What you're going through now is nothing compared to how Ganon used to act." Link said, "That was before he discovered Coffee, and then he just became obsessed."

"...Yeah...I just stay up so late at night trying to do my research, and sometimes I don't get any sleep at all." Lyon said, "Caffeine is surprisingly helpful, I find."

"We sure are talking about Coffee a lot, lately." Luigi commented.

"What is up with that?" Fox said, "We really need to get a life."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back at Radiant Garden, Paul and co. just entered the castle after a dash through the town's streets. The trek through the empty areas between the town and the castle went the fastest since there were no villagers to run into.

Or frighten to death.

"Why does everybody keep looking at me so weirdly?" Lyn asked nobody in particular.

_'Cause your face is a frozen scowl._ Kirby thought to himself. _Thank the heavens Ness isn't here...I'd probably be dead._

"I dunno." Sheik replied, "You look perfectly normal to me."

"Midna should be inside the lab with Falco and Pit." Paul explained, stopping and turning to face his friends.

"Hopefully healing them won't take too long." Fina said.

"And if it does?" Kirby asked curiously.

"It won't." Dr. Mario assured him.

"I wonder if Meta Knight needs us to come straight back after this..." Sheik wondered. "He didn't say anything about it."

"Why?"

"Well, we could try finding a few of our other fellows." Sheik suggested.

"Ppbth, we'll see." Kirby said. The team ran inside the castle's lower hallway network, and it took them a minute to navigate the area before they reached the entrance to the lab. When they stopped at the door, they could hear Midna shouting at somebody.

"No, No! Don't heal him there! I said do it over there!"

A stressed out voice replied, "I'm trying! You keep changing your mind! How do you expect me to do this right with you nagging me every second!?"

Dr. Mario stepped forward and shoved the door open and revealed Midna and Jun floating and crouching near the wounded guys, respectively. Midna was antsy and kept twiddling her fingers, and Jun was disheveled and flushed red with exertion and also possibly frustration.

"You're here! FINALLY!" Midna shouted exuberantly as she shot forward in a gust of wind. The blast knocked Jun over comically, and the twilight princess grabbed Paul fiercely by the neck.

"ACK!"

"GET BUSY!" Midna roared, tossing him towards Falco and Pit a little too hard. He flew through the air and slammed into the wall with a dull thud. His head and shoulders went right through it and stopped when he was about two feet in, leaving his lower body sticking out behind him.

While Paul kicked uncomfortably in his new position, Fina rolled her eyes and stepped forward to start purging the venom from the angel and the pilot's bodies. Dr. Mario walked over to Pit's motionless body and examined one of the holes in his wings while Fina tended to Falco with silver light. He took out a small vial with a cotton swab and dabbed it in the ooze coming from Pit's wounds, and sealed the swab back up. He was finished getting a sample of the poison just as Fina finished curing Falco, and she then turned to the angel and started working on ridding Pit's body of poison.

Kirby jumped up and grabbed one of Paul's legs with his stubby arms and turned into a stone. The sudden increase in weight yanked the duo free of the wall and they landed with a dusty crash.

"Thanks." Paul murmured.

"No problem." Kirby coughed.

"Fina's already finished healing them partly." Midna seethed, "Get busy, you bum! Those assassins are going to find us if we don't escape soon!"

"Yikes, have you ever considered _anger management_ classes?" Paul huffed as he approached his two patients.

"Does it look like we even have time for stuff like that!?" Midna asked imperiously.

"It was a subtle suggestion." Paul replied, "You might want to look into it once we get GUN to stop breathing down our necks. Curaga!" A bell of green light formed above the two unconcious bodies of Pit and Falco, and after it rang a few times green vines made of light spread out from the bell. The two smasher's bodies flashed once and their wounds healed, and then they regained conciousness.

"Whoa...What happened?" Falco asked, holding his head and wincing.

"I remember winning against the assassin, but then..." Pit trailed off.

"You were poisoned. Badly." Jun said, brushing some of her hair out of her face.

"You guys went into a coma or something." Sora said, "You just went unconscious, and we couldn't do anything to wake you up until Paul and Fina came along to help."

"I'm glad that we could be of assisstance." Fina said, bowing to the two newly revived smashers.

"I thank you, and may Palutena bless you." Pit said, bowing back.

"I'm gonna hurl. Too much politeness in one sitting." Falco said, jabbing a finger down his beak.

Things quieted down after that, and everybody slowly turned their attention to Dr. Mario, who was looking at the poison sample in his hand.

Finally, he said, "I may be able to make an antidote to this. It is my specialty after all."

"We can just have Fina and Paul heal us." Falco said, making a careless gesture.

"Speaking of which..." Midna said, "GUN sent that one assassin after us, and I can sense many more inside this castle looking for us."

"I've got an idea." Sheik said, "Don't you have a security system here? Just turn it on, and we can hunt those goons as a group. They won't stand a chance."

"Since your group will be leaving with us anyways, Midna, we may as well make sure we've finished all of our business." Lyn said, "We can't leave those evil men behind with all of these innocent townsfolk."

"I second that opinion." Paul said, "Looks like we've got a cleanup mission on our hands."

"Fine, i'll help however I can." Midna said, slightly annoyed, "I'll throw a tantrum if anybody gets hurt for any stupid reason."

"Don't let her get that angry." Sora whispered warningly in Paul's ear. After Sora finished his message, Paul leaned away, his eye twitching as unpleasant thoughts swirled through his head.

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"I can't beleive he did it again!" Matt growled.

"I'm happy Amy is out of my hair." Sonic sighed, "But now I have to save her. For the millionth time!"

"It's almost like what Link has to do for Zelda, except I think he likes it." Pichu said.

"I don't know if Mario or Link actually enjoy it." Bowser said, "it's one of those things, fun for the villain, stressful for the hero. In your case, Sonic, extra stressful."

"Tell me about it."

"We're losing him!" Ness moaned, "And my legs are about to fall off! WHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

"Let's take those warp stars." Matt suggested, "We know where Eggman's going, so we'll go there too!"

"I'm sorry this happened." Sonic apologized.

"There wasn't anything that you could do. What happened, happened, and since we're here we may as well fix it!"

"I appreciate the help, then." Sonic smirked, "Glad to have you!"

"As am I." Matt said, "This is just like old times."

"Ok, there's the warpstars!" Yoshi said, pointing at the woods where the team landed.

"We'll get Amy back, and we'll stop that fat dude!" Pichu promised.

"Let's go!" Ness said, as the team jumped on the stars and took off into the sky.

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"I think that's Elincia's castle down there." Link said, his face plastered to the window as Fox drove the ship up high above the land below. "What's going on down there? Is that a riot?"

"It sure looks like it." Samus confirmed, cocking her arm cannon menacingly.

"Elincia is on top of her castle!" Luigi cried, "It seems like..."

"Pfft, let's just go down and find out what the problem is." Samus said, "This will be easy."

"We better be careful." Fox said, "We don't want to end up making any mistakes. Crazy Hand! Steer the ship above the castle, we're going to jump down!"

"WHAT!?" Lyon yelped, "I can't jump from this high!"

"Then i'll carry you." Samus replied.

"This is humiliating." Lyon moaned.

"Ok, guys, good luck!" Crazy said, "In case you dudes didn't know you can call me with your Smash Phones and I can come get you."

"Thanks, Crazy." Fox said, "It's been good working with you, you've been a gigantic help."

"I agree." Link said, "You be good while we're gone!"

"Ppbth!" Crazy replied making raspberry noises. The team ran down to the hatch below decks, and when Crazy opened the door the team dove out. Fox, Link, Luigi, and Roy dove out headfirst in a graceful swan dive. Samus had Lyon in her arms, and after hanging on the ramp for an indecisive moment she tossed him out into the open air and dived after her more familiar friends. She shot past Lyon, who tumbled and screamed as he fell.

The team landed next to Elincia on the ramparts of her castle with an earth-shaking thud. They spun and landed on the ground in a kneeling position, and then stood up. Samus landed next, and shot her grapple beam over the side without aiming. The sticky beam of electricity grabbed Lyon harmlessly around the waist and then bounced back up to the top of the castle. It released him when he was above safe ground, and he too landed after a rather remarkably stylish flip.

"Don't...EVER...do that again." Lyon gasped, holding his chest and pounding heart. Samus shrugged indiferently, and then they turned their attention to Elincia, who was still extremely surprised at their abrupt entrance.

"...Uh, hello?" She answered, surprised, "I didn't expect any of you to come."

"We're looking for Ike." Samus replied flatly.

"I wish I knew where he was too." Elincia said.

"You mean NOBODY knows where he is!?" Link exclaimed, "That's not good!"

"I've been trying to quell a rebellion here, but he's nowhere to be found. I could use his help." Elincia sighed.

"What about us?" Fox asked, "We could help."

"It's almost over, as it is." Elincia said, "I captured their general, but they also captured my best friend. They will kill her if I don't let him go."

"It's that dirty politics thing all over again, innit?" Link asked, scowling, "I hate stuff I can't understand well."

"...What is your friend's name?" Lyon asked.

"Her name, is Lucia..." Elincia replied sadly, "They are just about to hang her on the gallows down there in the town's square."

"WHAT!?" Everybody shouted in shock.

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"Now, let's get that security system turned on." Sora said, cracking his fingers.

"Wait a sec, I thought you didn't know how to use computers?" Paul asked, confused.

"Naw, Tron finally told me how to use this one." Sora replied, smiling, "Now I can use it and do cool stuff!"

Paul slapped his forehead in annoyance. Sora went to work and opened a few windows on the computer screen, and when he found the option he was looking for he clicked on it and revealed a loading bar. It took about a minute to load all the way, and when it was finished, Sora pushed back from the machine triumphantly.

"I did it." He said.

"Now that we can breathe for a few minutes, why don't we find out what GUN is up to before we leave this place?" Lyn said.

"That's a good idea." Dr. Mario replied, "Which of you usually hacks GUN's transmissions?"

"That would be me." Falco answered proudly.

"Go ahead, Falco." Midna said, rolling her eyes.

"Sheesh, at least be nice about it." Falco complained as he took his seat. He hunched over the keyboard and willed his fingers to dance across the keyboard. After a few tense moments, he plopped back down into his seat and sighed. "This is just coming in. I managed to catch it before it got too far."

The computer revealed two speakers next to it, and after they crackled with static a clear authoritative voice rang throughout the room.

"This is an all-points bulletin." The voice said.

"It must be the commander." Midna whispered.

The disembodied voice continued. "The garrison stationed at Fort Saradin in Sector 7 is ordered to allow passage of a new ally. Our ally will be given custody of three of our top-security prisoners in payment for his services. So that you may recognize this man, he is seven feet tall, has dirty blond hair, and has blue eyes. He wears a large black cape and an exotic suit."

"I don't like the sound of that." Pit said, seriously. "He sounds familiar."

Jun was thinking deeply, and then she gasped loudly as a vivid image jumped into her mind's eye. "No! It cannot be!"

"It better not be who I think it is." Kirby said, shaking his head back and forth, eyes wide.

"But he's dead!" Jun wailed.

"Then my worst fear has been confirmed." Pit replied solemnly, bowing his head to his chest.

"It isn't..._him_...is it?" Paul asked as his right eye twitched uncomfortably.

"It has to be." Jun said, "Who else could it be but Dhaos?"

"What if the prisoners are Mario, Peach, and Toadsworth?" Kirby asked, tugging on Paul's pant leg.

"Then it's up to us to rescue them." Sheik said, "I'm not letting some dead man take my friends away."

"Dead or not, that man is formidable." Midna warned, "It'll take all of our efforts just to rescue whoever it is."

"Shouldn't we warn the others first?" Fina asked.

"No time for that." Falco urged, "We have to leave, now!"

"Isn't there something that we can take there that will help us fight?" Lyn asked, "Our ship is not designed for combat."

"Then, you need a gummi ship!" Sora said, giving a confident thumbs up, "After all, it's what we took to get here in the first place. We have it stored...uh, somewhere in this castle. I forget where." He said, scratching his head sheepishly.

"You guys take the Gummi Ship." Falco said, "I've got my Arwing, so i'm going by myself."

"You can't go alone, doofus." Paul scoffed, "You'll just get yourself killed."

"Better me than those poor prisoners." Falco retorted.

"Then, if you don't mind it, i'll go with you."

"WHAT? My ship's only built for one person!"

"I want to ride the wing, you idiot." Paul said, "I can use my magic to protect your ship, and also attack. I may not have Fox's experience, but I think I can still do a good enough job."

Falco thought it over a bit before replying, "Ok, fine. If you need the plasma cannon, I can hand it to you if you run outta magic juice."

"Thanks." Paul said, "Get a trace on that signal, Falco, and then we'll follow it. Sora, use your ship's radar to track our progress and follow us to Sector 7"

"Got it." Sora replied.

"Since when did YOU get good at planning stuff?" Midna asked.

"For one, I don't annoy the devil outta everybody and boss them around." Paul replied honestly, "Once you can do that, come back and talk to me again."

"C'mon, let's go." Falco said, pulling the mage knight away by the shoulder. When they were sufficiently out of earshot, he said, "You know, Midna's gonna kill you for that."

"That's a risk i'll take." Paul said.

"Waaiiiiiiiiit!!!" Kirby shouted, running after them, "I wanna go with you too!"

"Well?" Paul asked, turning to Falco.

"He can ride on the other wing." Falco replied.

"Yeah, buddies stick together." Kirby said, giving Paul a high five. After that he got in the same position in front of Falco and held up his hand. Falco stalled, and finally gave in.

"Oh, fine." He said, clapping his hand up against Kirby's.

"Am I being replaced?" Sora asked, mock sobbing.

"Dunno." Sheik replied as she watched the trio walk away. "...Hey, why are you asking me? I don't know enough about this stuff yet!"

"My bad." Sora said, shying away from the ninja...type person.

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"What's wrong?" Kirby asked innocently. Paul was clinging to the wing like a cat that didn't want to fall into a tub of water.

"I should have thought about this before..." Paul shuddered, looking at the ground far below. Falco was enjoying this immensely.

"Say, shall I go up higher? The view is better up another thousand feet!"

"Nooooooo!!!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Paul: Whew! I finally did it!**

**Samus: You got another chapter out. Good for you.**

**Paul: Sorry about it taking awhile. I only played through Radiant Dawn once and I had to go find a script somewhere so I could review what happened. I had to find the right spot for Link and co. to come in, and I did it. The research kinda threw me off, so I didn't get this chapter out as fast s I had hoped to.**

**Fox: And how do you like that? Three, count them, three...cliffhangers, I guess.**

**Matt: What else do you expect from a triple arc chapter? Sheesh.**

**Paul: Notes will be short here today, but i'm happy to say that this is my third longest chapter (I think) and they might only keep getting longer. I'm so glad that many of you reviewed, and again i'm sorry this update took over a week to publish. Now that i'm refreshed on the events of Radiant Dawn (Somewhat) I should be able to update faster. Again, I will make no promises since my attention span is so fickle, but we'll see what happens. ^_^ I'll see all of you guys next time, and I sure want it to be soon! Bye for now.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Please Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**(Criticism is welcome. Did you know it was only a little cut that sank the Titanic? If I have any leaks anywhere I'll need help finding them all, lol! HELP ME!)  
**


	62. Finding Trouble is Easier than you Think

**Paul: It is so much fun writing this story!**

**Kirby: I suppose it is. I've never written a story before. I can't hold pencils well.**

**Sheik: That, is your problem.**

**Paul: A funny bit of info for you. As I am writing (Typing?) this, I don't know the title for this chapter yet. You will not notice this because the title will be below, and also in the chapter selection thing.**

**Sonic: Back on topic, I don't like being press-ganged into service! I won't do it! I WON'T!**

**Pichu: You will and you'll luv it 'cause I tell you so!**

**Sonic: (Ppbbth!)**

**Ike: Paul, you (Insert expletive)! He fired me at the end of Supremacy!**

**Paul: I WAS gonna bring you back anyways. You know how I had all those characters in ACTORS: Skills Ltd. turn in resignation forms? I was...well, partially retiring them. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover Ike was being added to Brawl. Huzzah for all authors that had Ike in their stories before Brawl even said anything about Ike!**

**Ike: You won't be expecting it, but I will kick your butt when I see you next in the story.**

**Paul: Meep**

**Ike: Now that that is over with...Hello, everybody! Nice to see you all again. It's been nearly eighty chapters of the Supremacy series since I've seen you guys last. Thankfully, the author here has it planned that you'll be seeing me, and a lot more than before. I can't even recall being involved in any of the adventure arcs even after I made my appearance in Supremacy.**

**Paul: And the ironic hilarity of it all is that Ike's one of my all-time favorite characters! (Sobs) I'M SORRY IKE!**

**Ike: Now you're just creeping me out. (Shudders)**

**Paul: You're cool because you're sarcastic and blunt. You said the _funniest_ stuff occasionally on Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Everybody, a quick round of applause for a cool guy!**

**(Cue for readers to clap...If you're crazy and don't care about drawing stares.)**

**Ike: That's it. I'm outta here. Don't expect to see me until I make my dramatic entrance. (Weirdos)**

**Paul: So....Uh, what else? I'm super happy that I got reviews, and I thank all of you for reading! Samus, Disclaimer please!**

**Samus: You can just go somewhere and suck DORK! If you readers are going to freak out 'cause there isn't a disclaimer, there's one floating around here somewhere. If it means that much to you just fish it up.**

**Paul: And those are the words from our wise Samus. Follow them...Or she'll probably kill you. She hates me anyways, so I wouldn't put much confidence in me living past 20 years. I hope you all enjoy today's chapter!**

**-Chapter XXXXXXII-**

**-Finding Trouble is Easier than you Think!-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"At this rate he'll actually get there before we do." Sonic complained. He was lying flat on his warpstar and looking straight ahead as he flew.

"That's usually what happens." Matt said, "We always get there just in time to clean up the mess."

"Don't say that," Pichu shuddered, "I hate cleaning messes."

"Get used to it, Chaos Janitor." Bowser said, "As long as there's a villain out there you'll have your work cut out for you."

"Yay." Pichu replied unenthusiastically.

"But, aren't you a villain too?" Ness asked Bowser.

"What kind of ideas are in your head, anyways? Let me know so I can beat the right ones out." Bowser growled, "And besides, i'm a _reformed_ guy, an Ex-Villain!"

"I soooooooooooooo don't believe you!" Ness laughed.

"Can I please kill him?" Bowser begged Matt.

"No."

"Aww, come on, please? One less smasher won't affect us."

"I said, _nooooooooo._" Matt said, annoyed.

"Cut it out, Bowser." Yoshi said.

"Keep your crummy advice to yourself, dino-dork." Bowser grumbled, after which Yoshi shook his head in distaste.

"Focus on flying or you guys are gonna get left behind!" Sonic shouted. Bowser grudgingly complied and stayed silent for the rest of the flight. After about fifteen minutes of super-high speed flight the team landed in a verdant valley which contained a little village. Since the smashers were in a hurry they didn't speak to any of the animals there, most of which shouted, "Sonic!" at least once.

"Sorry old man!" Sonic apologized to a bespectacled owl just as they left the village perimeter. "No time to talk! Eggman's at it again!" The team continued running down the valley until they came to the shore of an insanely large lake. Matt and the others looked around at the scenery in awe, but Sonic just looked around with keen eyes.

The mountains on the far shore were like gigantic spikes sticking out of the earth, brown with a healthy earth color. The lake spread out to the sides, and even though the shores were visible all around it, it would take days to sail across it.

"...Everything's so HUGE!" Pichu squeaked.

"No kidding." Ness agreed.

"Any minute now..." Sonic said.

"Wait, what's that?" Matt said, pointing up at the sky. Sonic followed his finger, and when he saw the object of curiosity he slapped his head in embarrassment. Up in the sky was a gigantic blue sphere with a pattern of ridges on it.

"That sure was quick." Sonic finally said, pointing at a large chain that held the planet in place above the lake, "Eggman's already captured the planet."

"Seriously?" Bowser asked, surprised.

"Different dimension? Different timeline?" Sonic shrugged, "Anyways, we have to get up there now! If Eggman gets those Time Stones for GUN, we're screwed."

"I can imagine why." Matt replied, "Let's get back and take our warpstars up there. It'll take forever to get to the other side and get up that chain."

"That's how I did it the first time!" Sonic said smugly, rubbing the underside of his nose with one finger.

"That's not fair." Ness said, "I mean, come on, it IS you we're talking about."

"True." Sonic said, "Let's get back then. I'm ready to show Eggman what happens when he joins forces with the biggest band of morons this universe has ever seen."

"That's more like it!" Pichu said.

A while later they were off, flying through the air once more towards the little blue planet above the lake.

They flew right towards the side, and when they were a few thousand feet away from the surface, which was blurry, they suddenly slammed into what felt like an invisible wall. Their bodies went rigid upon contact and reality seemed to swirl away into a black vortex, after which everything went pitch black.

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"I wonder what this Fort Saradin is like." Midna thought out loud over the radio. Falco was in his cockpit tracing the signal that would take them to the fort in question, and every once in a while he took a casual glance at his two wing men, Kirby and Paul. The former was happily dancing on the left wing like a lunatic, and the later was clinging to the right wing for dear life.

"I don't know how well this fortress will be defended." Falco replied, "But I doubt this will be easy to pull off.

"It never is." Sheik's snappy answer crackled across the radio, "And JUST when they've managed to trick you into thinking you've succeeded, they pull the rug out from underneath your feet and reveal that pesky trapdoor you always seem to fall down."

"Next time, say something that makes sense." Lyn sighed.

"But it did make sense!"

"To you, maybe."

The noise of Sheik blowing a retaliatory raspberry could be heard.

"Anyways, we need a plan." Pit said.

"We don't know enough about the place, though." Jun complained, "We will be at a terrible disadvantage."

"Hasn't stopped us before." Dr. Mario said.

"We should be able to do it, we just need to...uh, play it safe?" Sora suggested

"With this box of bright bulbs, we'll dominate the world." Midna replied sarcastically.

"That isn't fair!" Falco said. "You're just as bad off as the rest of us are."

"On the contrary!" Midna differed, "I've got a brain."

"I vote we ditch the nag." Pit's voice said.

"Hey!"

"If you weren't so mean..." Fina's voice trailed off.

"*Snort* fine, i'll keep my honest mouth closed."

"Thank you!" Falco said, "What do you guys think we ought to do?" he asked, hoping to collaborate with the rest of his team members.

"I say we storm the place and tear our way through." Lyn said, "I never was subtle."

"I SAY we sneak in and give them an atomic wedgie, in a manner of speaking, while they aren't looking." Sheik suggested.

"But what could we do that would annoy GUN so badly?" Fina asked.

"'Kidnapping' their prisoners before this important exchange could happen might be enough to do that." Midna suggested.

"But that's the point of this whole excursion!" Sora said, "Anything extra we can do?"

"Maybe we ought to just kick their butts again." Dr. Mario said, unconvinced, "It would be rubbing salt in the wound that's already there."

"I guess we'll go with that." Sheik said.

"I might be able to concoct something nasty to leave behind for them." Dr. Mario offered.

"Like?" Falco couldn't help but ask in interest.

"If I could find the main ventilation shaft I could drop a stink bomb."

"Now we've even got the good doctor here playing dirty!" Pit exclaimed, "What horror have we unleashed!?" Nervous laughter followed his outburst, and after it faded away Sheik's voice filled the cockpit once more, strengthened by purpose.

"I think i've formulated a plan." Sheik offered, "I believe I can sneak Dr. Mario in and we can free the prisoners. We'll need a distraction, a big one. We'll give them the atomic wedgie and beat their faces in at the same time. Midna, you can lead the main force if nobody here minds, and to even get started with this we'll need an opening which Falco will provide."

"Let me guess, I cruise around the base and take out guns, and blah blah blah-" Falco said before Sheik cut him off.

"Yes, that exactly. So glad you figured that out on your own.

"Enough with the cracks already, yeah?" Falco groaned, "We're not stupid. I'll let the guys know the plan."

"Good, we're counting on you." Jun said before the radio went silent.

"Load of bossy gits." Falco muttered when he was sure he was safe. After he vented a bit of steam he slowed the ship quickly, causing Kirby to lurch dangerously over the edge and Paul to turn bright green. "Ok, we've got a plan." He announced after his cockpit opened up.

"What are we gonna do?" Kirby asked, bringing his dance to a screeching halt.

"We have to disable the fort's cannons and laser weapons if they have any so the gummi ship can get in safely." Falco explained. "Easy enough. After everybody gets inside we can cause any kind of mischief we like."

"Inside, or outside?" Paul gulped.

"Now that you mention it, they didn't specify." Falco said, "But, to be on the safe side we ought to get inside as soon as we get a chance so we don't get separated."

"Esuna." Paul muttered, casting a healing spell on himself. The greeness went away from his face, and he stood up more confidently, "That sounds like the best course of action. Let's take it."

"Yah, I don' wanna get lost." Kirby shuddered. "This place is spooky." His comment caused the mageknight and the pilot of look around at their surrroundings, and they instantly agreed. It was a desolate, red and earthy plain with large mountains made of dark red stone. The sky was overcast with smoky looking clouds and the landscape was spotted with dead trees, and just as they were observing this they were passing over a whole forest worth of grayed and darkened leafless...and lifeless, trees.

"I'll say." Paul whistled, "Are we getting close by any chance? This looks like the type of place where some evil organization would imprison people."

"The signal source is coming from the other side of that mountain range." Falco said, pointing at a large ridge just ahead of them a few miles. "We'll be there within an hour."

"Finally!" Kirby said, "I'm getting windburn and I can't feel a dang thing on my body."

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Back at the castle Melior, in Crimea, things were no better than when they started. Lucia was now snugly fixed with a noose around her neck and her arms were bound behind her back. She would be hanged if Elincia didn't hand over their general, something the queen was dead determined not to do. Even if victory came with a terrible price...She was not heartless, but how could she trade the life of her friend for thousands of innocent lives, and her country? No, she had to stay on her current path...The other was too far to jump to now, anyhow.

"Your time to decide is up!" A crimean rebel shouted below. His white helmet amplified his voice enough that it carried all the way from the square up to the top of the castle wall, where the smashers watched in dread as Lucia's fate went black. They were affiliated with Elincia, the rebels knew, and if they did anything Lucia's neck was as good as broken.

"I think I can hit her rope from here." Samus muttered quietly, aiming her cannon at the rope. Link slapped her cannon down fiercely with his sword.

"No! They'll kill her if we try anything. We don't have the advantage here." Link said.

"I hate to agree but Link's right." Lyon sighed, "If I ever get through this...No, I won't abdicate my throne, I have responsibilities as well."

"I thought everybody back on your continent thought you were dead?" Fox stated matter of factly, pointing his finger at the prince, "Won't they say you're an imposter?"

"I didn't think of that." Lyon commented, "Darn, I knew I was forgetting something. My memory hasn't been so great since I was ressurected."

"You were dead?" Elincia asked, greatly surprised and slightly distur-no, greatly disturbed.

"Am I green, slobbering, or was it that rancid stench that gave you the suspicions?" Lyon asked sarcastically, "Look, worry about the undead on your own time, I thought we had a crisis here?"

"Crispers?" asked Roy excitedly.

"Yes, Crispers." Lyon replied, thoroughly annoyed.

"Are you sure your nerves didn't diminish as well?" Samus asked snidely, "I heard you used to be such a kind, selfless fellow."

"SHUT UP!" The prince shouted, throwing his hands forward. He brandished a staff from his...bottomless pocket that all heroes have, and a cone of purple light formed around Samus. The pyramid of light vanished, leaving the bounty hunter literally speechless.

"I thought the incantation to that spell was Silence?" Fox asked again.

"If you want to be so technical." Lyon snarled, "SILENCE!" The pilot also found his voice was gone.

"Uh oh, trouble." Link announced, pointing down at the square.

"Oh no." Elincia moaned.

The soldiers were finally preparing to hang the teal haired swordmaster on the gallows. Two went up on the deck to check her bindings to make sure they were tight while another walked over to a lever. The two up on the deck looked down and gave the other a thumbs up, who returned it and grasped the bar with both of his hands.

Just before the man pulled the switch, Lucia looked up with sorrowful blue eyes, one last time, up to her queen and nearly lifelong friend. Then, she closed them an awaited her fate.

The trapdoor beneath her feet opened, and with a creak she dropped down to the ground below, moments from death. Suddenly, the rope above her head snapped and gave way. Before she could hit the ground, a familiar figure dashed onto the scene. He managed to catch her with one of his arms and sling her unconscious body over his shoulder. The man did an about face and looked at her former captors, revealing his face. With his free arm, his right one, he drew a huge and heavy sword. A single swing from his powerful arm sent four full grown men flying as if they were hit by a charging bull.

"It's Ike! Whaooo!" Link yelled excitedly, pointing at the melee below. "And somebody shot that rope with an arrow! Sweet!"

"I saw it too." Samus said.

"What, why are you speaking!?" Lyon moaned.

"This stuff wears off of me fast, so bleah." Samus replied, sticking her tongue out, "Whoever made that shot was incredibly skilled. I couldn't aim that good without a lock-on system, and i'm not even that bad at sniping!"

"Now's our chance!" Fox said, "We should help!"

"Not you too!" Lyon wailed.

"Why is everybody ignoring me?" Luigi asked, "Let's go!"

By now, more people had appeared below, and were beating the living snot out of the rebels. A hail of arrows was coming from a tree about one hundred feet away from the main fight, and most of the arrows found their mark in enemy flesh. None of them hit the civilians or the fighters. A purple haired swordswoman wearing an orange robe protected a dark haired mage while he blasted soldiers away with potent wind magic. His expression was blank as he muttered long, intricate incantations under his breath. One soldier found an opening and rushed right at the hapless mage, sword raised and yelling. The swordswoman, who looked no older than sixteen, rushed the man at impressive speed and ran him through. Another wildly yelling guy came in swinging a gigantic axe like a baseball bat and started sending soldiers flying all over the place. It was like watching a hurricane. After the swordswoman finished off the soldier that was going to kill the mage, she turned her attention to him.

"Soren, you'd be dead if I wasn't here to guard your butt!" She shouted playfully.

Soren, the mage in question, finished his spell and summoned up a horizontal cyclone from his hand. He blew a whole crowd of soldiers away, all the while slashing them with debris and magical wind blades. "I'm sorry Mia. I'll try not to be useless unlike you." He replied blankly.

"Pbbth!" She answered with a raspberry. "At least my nose isn't always buried in a book."

A green knight, whose name was Oscar, had already taken Lucia to safety and now took runs through the crowds of rebels along with Titania, the other horse rider. They dashed through on their horses and cut soldiers down faster than they could call reinforcements. Rhys, a healer, and Mist, Ike's younger sister, were trying to revive Lucia with staves.

"C'mon, wake up!" Mist shouted, somewhat desperately.

Ike was now paired up with a blond man in heavy blue armor weilding a heavy lance. They were back to back for a moment, and then they both split up and fought multiple soldiers off at once.

"Circle them,and don't let the prisoner get away!" One of the captains ordered above the din.

"Sorry, that ain't happenin'." Somebody said from behind him. He whirled to face the six smashers from up on the wall.

"Get him, Roy!" Link ordered. He was the one that spoke before. Roy did his bidding and charged the man while charging up a flare blade. He raised his spear to block the incoming attack but gasped when Roy's sword burst into flame. He cut through the spear shaft as if it were made of butter, and took the captain down with one hit. The civilians were cheering wildly now as the rebels got their butts owned.

Gatrie, the heavy armored man in blue, dueled with another soldier. They thrust at each other and parried as often as they could. They failed to hit the other until finally the rebel rammed his spear toward Gatrie's stomach.

CHINK!

It made a harmless ding noise and bounced off.

"That's not how it's done." Gatrie laughed. He stepped forward and swung his spear so fast it whistled through the air. He hit the man in the chest and instantly rendered him unconscious.

With the smashers added to the fray, the rebels didn't stand a chance. A few minutes later there was not a trace of a single living white armored rebel, and the two groups joined at the center of the square amidst the wild cheers of the simple folk. Rhys and Mist stayed where they were, tending to Lucia. Lyon saw what they were doing and hurried over to their location. When Mist heard him approaching, she looked up and saw him.

"Who are you?" She asked, suspiciously.

"Move out of the way." He demanded, smacking her upside the head with a staff. She yelped in surprise and did as she was told. He knelt down on the ground and knocked Rhy's staff away with his own, and resumed healing Lucia in his place. His power was stronger than the gentle red haired priest, and so they were that much closer to getting the job done.

"Thank you for your help back there." Ike said, tepping forward and holding his hand out. He looked a bit taller than before, but not much. He was more muscular than the last time they saw him, and he was also wearing a large...blue armored sleeve thing on his sword arm. (Think of a cross between PoR Ike and RD Ike. More like a year's difference instead of three. He still has that young look from Brawl 'cept he ain't so thin and is a bit taller.)

"You're welcome." Link replied, stepping forward from his own group and taking his hand.

Ike suddenly scowled at him for a moment, and then started laughing, "Link! I didn't recognize you for a second there!"

"So now you catch on, eh?" Link asked lightly.

"I'm sorry, my mind's a mess at the moment." Ike admitted quietly, "There's a lot that's been going on."

"I'll say." Link agreed, "Look, we need to talk with you."

"If this is about joining up with the Super Smash Brothers again, look, I retired." Ike said somewhat irritably.

"Then maybe you haven't seen the bigger picture yet." Link said, seriously, "That's what I need to talk to you about. Tellius is just one little chess piece in this whole battle."

"...Then I see no reason to decline." Ike answered. "...Hey, where's Mist, Rhys, and Lucia?"

"Right here." Mist mumbled from beside him. Ike turned and looked at her in surprise, and then frowned.

"Where'd you get that bruise?" He asked, "I thought I told you to stay out of the fight."

"I did." Mist said, "But then this guy came along with a staff and bopped me upside the head. Told me to get out of the way and then he started using his staff on Lucia. Apparently, he can do a much better job than me and Rhys put together."

"Uh oh." Fox said.

"What?" Luigi asked, glad that somebody was asking him something and paying attention to him.

"Where's Lyon?"

"He's not here." Samus said, "He disappeared shortly after we jumped off the castle wall."

Ike was already off running. Everybody else followed after him, and soon they reached Lyon and Rhys. Lyon was still healing Lucia, and Rhys looked like he was about to shake to pieces.

"Hmm?" Lyon mumbled, looking up from his work. Unfortunately he looked up at Ike.

"...You!" Ike shouted, enraged. A look of recognition flared up on the prince's face, followed by panic. Ike punched him in the face with his armored hand and knocked him out cold.

"Ike, you didn't need to be so harsh." Mist said, "A bruise isn't going to kill me."

"I was being harsh?" Ike asked, incredulous, "This guy just whacked my sister for no reason at all, and besides, he owed me."

"He did?" Link said.

"Yeah...Before I left I had a little game of poker with this jerk." Ike said, "That Snake fellow taught us how to play. Lyon cheated and took my money, so he got his."

"I didn't know Lyon was such a grubber." Luigi said, surprised, "Sheesh. We'll just let him sort that out with you."

"Thanks." Ike sighed, "Queen Elincia is expecting us, though. We've got a long road ahead of us, and I think I could use your help, Link."

"It's what we're here for." Link replied, pointing at himself, "Consider us a part of the Greil Mercenaries!"

"You'll be working for free." Ike warned, "There's barely enough gold flowing around as it is."

"We didn't come here for gold." Fox said, "Heck, we'd donate as much as we could if we had gold in out pockets!"

"I appreciate your sympathy." Ike said, "C'mon, guys, Queen Elincia is waiting for us inside the fort. We're just getting started."

The whole group, both Ike's and Link's, trotted off towards the fort with the two previously mentioned men at the front. Fox stayed behind a moment and sighed so that nobody would hear him. He felt a presence nearby and looked up to see a man with long red hair that was tied off into a pony tail. He had on clothing and armor suited for an archer, and as such he had a quiver on his back and a bow in his hand. He glared at Fox for a moment, and the smasher could have sworn the temperature just increased. The man soon stopped and walked off to the fort on his own, leaving Fox behind bewildered. When he came back to his senses he shook his head and ran after his teammates as fast as he could.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sonic was the first to wake up. The first thing he noticed, something happened this time that didn't happen the first time he came to this dimension.

He sat up from his lying position and rubbed his eyes with his hands, and felt something was off about his body but didn't think anything of it. Once the...sleepiness? was rubbed out of his eyeballs he looked around. The surrounding area was similar to the Green Hil zone that he was familiar with back in his old days, except there were lots of palm trees.

"Palmtree Panic." Sonic said to himself, "Yep, we're in the right place!" He got up to his feet, and again, it felt a little bit odd. He looked around for his friends, and after a few tense moments he found them nearby...only he barely recognized them. "What the heck?" He asked himself. He ran over to them but accidentally tripped on his way and soared over them.

He rolled down a hill nearby headfirst, and came to an end at the bottom near a body of water. He dusted himself off, annoyed, and looked at the water out of the corner of his eye. He gasped and knelt down to get a better look at himself.

Matt suddenly woke up when he heard Sonic's wild yell from nearby. He could barely distinguish Sonic's sobs of "I'm Fat! I'm FAAAAAAT!" from his incoherent and hysteric yells. Matt jumped to his feet and lurched to the side. Why was his left arm so light? He looked at it, and joined in the hysterics. By now Pichu, Yoshi, Bowser, and Ness were awake too.

"Pichu?" Pichu asked. She looked then froze and looked at everybody, who stopped and looked at her back. She clapped her paws across her mouth.

"...Pichu can't speak." Ness said.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi shouted.

"Neither can he!" Bowser shouted, pointing at a baby green yoshi.

"My mecha arm is missing, and I have my old one back!" A twelve year old Matt yelled enthusiastically.

"I'm fat!" A younger Sonic shouted. Indeed, he was a little bit shorter, and his body was that of when he first came to the place. He wasn't skinny and sleek anymore.

Ness and Pichu were the only unchanged ones, (Not counting Pichu losing her voice) But other than that, everybody was changed. Bowser didn't look too much different, but he was a bit smaller, maybe a half a foot shorter.

"I'm faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!" Sonic wailed, falling to his knees and screaming up to the sky.

"Snap out of it!" Matt said, recovering quickly from his euphoria. He slapped Sonic upside the head with his hand, which resulted in Sonic being knocked away amidst a cloud of rings.

"Oh no!" Sonic shouted again, chasing his rings about.

"Is it just me, or are all of us a lot weaker?" Bowser asked, disgusted. Yoshi walked up to him, and in a surprise move he whipped he Koopa King with his tongue. The blow knocked Bowser off of his feet and scattered even more rings, which he decided were useless and didn't bother picking them up.

"Grab them!" Sonic yelled excitably, flailing his hands about in panic.

"Why?" Bowser asked haughtily.

"If you get hit here without any of them, you'll lose a life!" Sonic answered.

"Sounds like one of those cheesy old Mario games." Bowser sniffed.

"He's dead serious." Matt said, "This place has its own rules that we have to play by. We don't go anywhere if we don't do it this way. We won't be able to escape!"

"Yeah, want a game over? I sure don't!" Ness said.

"Fine." Bowser said. He grabbed a nearby ring before it could disappear and put it in his pocket.

"Ok, i'm ok now." Sonic sighed, taking a deep breath.

"Good." Bowser said.

"Pichu!" Pichu squeaked.

"Ya know what? We can't understand you so shut up." Bowser grumbled. Yoshi stuck his tongue out and made a "Mweah!" noise.

"What do we do now?" Ness asked.

"For starters, we gotta run east, east, and east." Sonic said, "We have to collect a hundred rings to get a giant ring to appear, after which we just touch it and get transported to another dimension."

"So?" Bowser said.

"The dimension is where we get the Time Stones at." Sonic explained, "There will be these U.F.O things that possess the stones. After we beat them all, we get the time stone."

"Ok, now that we know what to do...What do we do?" Matt asked, "We can't fight worth beans. I don't have my machine arm anymore! Even the Emerald Blade is missing."

"What?!" Ness shouted.

Bowser belched out a blast of orange flame. "Nope, no Dragon Stone in my gut anymore."

"I don't have the Crystal Ring anymore, either." Sonic shrugged after looking at his own wrists.

"Pichu!"

"Yoshi!"

"Well, that stinks!" Ness said, "Looks like i'll be protecting everybody's butts then. PK FIRE!"

Nothing happened.

"Huh? PK FIRE PK FIRE PK THUNDER PK FIRE! I can't use those attacks! Drat!"

"Why's that?" Matt asked.

"I had Paula teach me those moves before I joined the Super Smash Brothers." Ness moaned, "Looks like i'm stuck with my Yo-yo, my bat, PK flash, PK Rockin, and some other dumb strength increasing stuff."

"It's a load better than what I have!" Matt huffed, "At least lend me your baseball bat! Sheesh!" Ness did so and handed the weapon over. Matt tested it for a few moments before deciding it worked, and then tucked it into his belt. Pichu decided she ought to test her powers out as well. She was pleased to see it worked, and it didn't even smart as usual!

"Pichu!" She cheered.

"...Uh, you lost a ring." Sonic said.

Indeed, when Pichu checked her pocket thing, a ring was missing!

"Let me try." Ness said. "PK Flash!" He created a bright green spark and launched it at a palm tree, which exploded after Ness detonated the attack.

"You lost five rings that time." Bowser said.

"And you lost your last ring breathing that fire." Sonic said.

"Dang, give me one of yours!" He shouted angrily, grabbing baby Yoshi and shaking him until he dropped one. He greedily grabbed it and stuffed it back in his own pocket before dropping the dino back to the ground.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!" Yoshi cried.

"You jerk." Matt said.

"If you run out of rings to attack, just jump on top of your foe." Sonic said, "I also forgot to tell you, this planet times us, and if we take too long in a world we lose a life!"

"Oh, for the love of Bubba, it's already been five minutes!" Matt yelped, "Why didn't you tell us sooner!?"

"I haven't had to worry about time limits for years." Sonic shrugged again, "Let's go find one hundred rings and get outta here!"

At that he took off down the straight path and everybody else ran off after him. Thankfully he wasn't as fast as he used to be and they could keep up decently well.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"We're closing in on the target, over." Falco said. They had just gone around the mountain range since it was too dangerous to fly over, and they were shooting across a giant plain. The fortress was in plain sight, built into the side of the cliffs to their left.

"Good." Midna replied, "We'll be there in five minutes. That should be enough for you to clear the area."

"I think so too." Falco said, "We'll see you in five, then. Good luck!"

"It's you that needs it." Midna said, "Seriously."

"Piece of cake compared to what you're all about to do. Just leave this to me!" He said before cutting transmissions. The fortress was a few hundred yards away, and they were already starting to fire. It was built like a series of stairs. There were a couple of different levels, each of which had an outter deck atop them. The decks supported large laser cannons and some of the older cannons that still fired projectiles. There was enough of an assortment of weapons to handle just about any situation, except for a battle against three raving lunatics and a tiny fighter ship.

"Reflect!" Paul yelled. He created a barrier around the ship just as the first few lasers and cannonballs came rocketing past. Kirby inhaled a laser and gained the Laser ability, which he started using to shoot back. Paul kept the shield up and allowed Falco to make a reckless bombing run. He took out about four cannons on his own before he was forced to fly away, not including the one Kirby blasted to bits. The base spawned a large rocket launcher and fired a cloud of heat seeking missiles at the ship.

"I can't repel all of those!" Paul warned, "Kirby, shoot those down!"

"I'm on it!" The versatile star warrior replied. He fired laser after laser from the odd visor on his head and took out half of the missiles before they got too close to shoot properly. Paul thought of a desperate tactic and fired a fully charged Blizzaga spell at the arwing. Falco squawked when his windshield froze up. The missiles soared around them and exploded after losing their target and Paul warmed the ship back up with a little bit of fire.

"Don't you dare do that again!" Falco complained.

"Ok, i'll try something else next time, then!" Paul yelled, annoyed. Falco steered the ship as best as he could through the hail of projectiles as he made his way for another run, except this time Paul stored up his extra energy for a nasty attack. When Falco destroyed another row of cannons Paul fired his blast at the row of cannons below and took out another three beam weapons.

"What was that?" Kirby asked.

"I used my Self-Destruct attack and put it into a normal fire spell." Paul said, "Apparently, it worked swell."

A few lazy minutes later the fortress was disarmed, at least outwardly. They didn't put up too much of a fight, the lousy bums.

"You're up!" Falco announced into his radio.

"Good." Midna said, "That was quick work. Follow us in!"

"Right!" Falco replied. He fired a smart bomb at the wall and opened up a sizeable hole. The gummi ship whirled into view and went into the newly created hole shortly followed by Falco. He landed next to the ship and the trio dismounted the ship just as the cockpit opened on the gummi ship. Midna, Jun, Pit, Sora, Dr. Mario, Fina, Lyn, and Sheik jumped out.

"So...let's get started." Sheik said, "You all have fun, ya hear? Bye for now!"

"Good luck with rescuing the captives." Fina said.

"Thanks. You all be careful too." Dr. Mario said, before he and Sheik dashed off down a narrow corridor nearby.

"Righto." Midna said, "Time for us to do our stuff!"

"This is going to be fun." Pit said, drawing his dual swords.

"Can't get too careless, we still have a whole base of GUN doofuses to take out." Sora replied.

"Come on and quickly!" falco shouted, taking off, "This party isn't gonna start itself ya know!"

"No fair! You got a head start!" Lyn said dashing after him.

Everybody else sweatdropped.

"She's complaining, and she can run faster than any of us?" Kirby sighed.

"Don't wanna get left behind, now, do you?" Paul asked.

"Nuts, we're the last two!" Kirby shouted, "Wait for uuss!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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-Back in Queen Elincia's throne room-

Elincia was the first to speak to Link's group and Ike. "Sir Ike... If you hadn't come to help, I would have lost one of my dearest friends. Thank you... Thank you ever so much."

"We were happy to do it. And Bastian pays well for mercenary work...And i'm not a noble anymore, remember? Just the mention of it makes my eyes twitch." Ike replied.

"I am sorry...Ike. Did you say Bastian?" Elincia asked.

"Yes. The count of Fayre knew about Ludveck's plotting before he left for Daein. Bastian guessed that if he left the country, the rebels would feel confident enough to make their move. What else would you expect from Crimea's top tactician? Well...Crimea's most deceptive old dog, at any rate." Ike said.

"Yes, that's just like him..." Elincia said thoughtfully.

"Sorry that we had to stay hidden until the last minute." Ike apologized. " For a ruse like that to work, you have to deceive allies as well as enemies. I know you were acting in Crimea's best interests, but I'm sorry you had to let that happen to Lucia."

No... It worked out fine in the end. Please put it out of your mind." Lucia assured him.

"Lucia, Geoffrey... I value your lives more than even my own. But it's my duty to protect this country, even if that means losing you." Elincia said, with a trace of distress. "I've learned a lot from all of this. I hope to keep them out of harm's way, and I'll never make the same mistakes again."

"Good to hear. So what are you going to do about all the escaped rebel soldiers?" Ike asked.

"The rebel army will be eradicated." Elincia replied. "We cannot allow them to sow the seeds of discontent among the people of Crimea."

That's the right choice. Would you consider contracting my mercenaries for the job?" Ike asked.

"...No, Sir Ike. I'll leave that up to the Royal Knights. I'm certain this task will create anger among the people, and the Royal Knights may be resented for their role in it... But my duty as queen demands that it be done. The people will have to learn to accept that." Elincia said, shaking her head.

"I said stop calling me Sir." Ike frowned, annoyed, "I respect your devotion to duty. So, you don't need me then?"

"That's right. I'm going to move on, together with my vassals and the people of this country." Elincia replied, "Sir Ike... Before you leave, there's something I'd like to talk to you about."

"What is it?" He asked, "And stop calling me Sir, dang it!"

"I keep forgetting...I'm sorry, Ike. When you heard from Bastian... Did he say anything about Daein?" Elincia asked.

"No, nothing." Ike said.

"He informed me of a number of things. Apparently Daein's reconstruction is playing out much like Crimea's... He spoke of a new king raising the banner of war, and a charismatic young hero carrying it into battle. He compared King Pelleas to me, and a Silver-Haired Maiden to you... It's almost unnatural. He suspected that someone might be scheming, trying to manipulate Daein. Bastian seemed quite suspicious of it all." Elincia said.

"So Bastian went to Daein to try and confirm his suspicions on that?" Ike asked.

"Yes. There was also something about Daein's resurrection that we can't afford to overlook. ...The Black Knight." Elincia said, darkly.

"What?!" Ike, Fox, and Link all yelled in unison.

"I'll never forget him... He was the one warrior who the late King Ashnard trusted. Encased in pitch-black armor, standing tall with a crimson cape... When the Liberation Army fought at the capital, he was there. He sided with the Silver-Haired Maiden. And, he even stabbed you atop the mansion that one night. It is incredible that you survived such a wound." Elincia said.

"I had help, of course." Ike said, "I couldn't have survived if it wasn't for Dr. Mario and those wire Frames. I even owe my Life to Crazy Hand. He repelled the knight in the first place. The Black Knight... The man who killed my father and almost took my life as well... But Link, Roy, and Marth defeated him a year ago. I'm sure of it. How could he have come back to life after we defeated Dhaos?"

"If this is indeed the same Black Knight who served Dhaos along with those other Fallen Angels, these are dark times." Elincia sighed, "If the Black Knight that was seen in Daein was indeed the same Black Knight... He might prove to be a threat to Crimea."

"Hmm. If he's still alive... I have no doubt I'll see him again. Elincia, this is very important information for me. Thank you." Ike said, thanking her and kneeling.

"Of course." Elincia replied, smiling.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"The Black Knight is alive!?" Link asked Ike in dumbfounded shock once they were outside the queen's chambers.

"By the sounds of things." Ike replied, subdued.

"But, that's just insane." Fox said, shaking his head, "We all saw his dead body after Link finished him off! Or rather...the fragments of his armor. Could Ramirez be alive too?"

"I can't tell you that 'cause I don't know." Ike said, "This just gets more intriguing by the minute. You guys still going to stick with me, or what?"

"I have a feeling that we'll be seeing him sooner than later. There isn't any need to split up, and besides, we got lucky finding you here." Samus said, "I don't feel like taking any more chances that are unecessary."

"Well said." the mercenary replied, "It really is good to see all of you again...Though Lyon annoys the hades out of me."

"He annoys me too." Luigi said.

"Hey!" Lyon yelled.

"Popcorn!" Roy randomly shouted before dancing.

"Speaking of annoying...What happened to Roy? He was cool last time I saw him." Ike said, scratching his head.

"He hit his head." Link answered, "Tragic, really. I thought he was cool too. If it wasn't for him, Marth and I wouldn't have defeated the Black Knight. He was very formidable."

"Now Roy's just a raging dork." Fox said, "We haven't found a way for him to regain his sanity yet."

"That's a pity." Ike said, "Though...Now that I think of it I may know a way he can be helped."

"Seriously?" Link asked, "That's wonderful!"

"What about me?" Samus asked.

"You...look fine to me." Ike replied, confused.

"Do I?" Samus asked rhetorically. He pulled her helmet off and showed him her face, which looked even worse than before. It was now as white as a corpse, her corrupted eye actually glowed blue, and the blue veins in her face pulsed ominously. Roy screamed his head off like a girl and dived out of a nearby window headfirst...A window five stories high. Ike cringed and his eyes were twitching. Link stared annoyingly. Lyon fainted followed shortly by Luigi, and Fox squeaked. "Well, what do you think? I'm beautiful, aren't I?"

"Don't joke like that." Ike choked, "That is so morbid."

"I've got about a month to be funny." Samus whined like a kid, "C'mon, tell me i'm at least funny!"

"This has to be the scariest thing i've ever seen." Link whispered.

"I'll be gone soon." Samus said sadly, "At this rate...I'll start rotting next week, and i'll still be alive to feel it, or rather not feel it. My nerves are almost shot."

"Sick." Fox coughed.

"I've heard of walking dead before, but I think this is the first time I't ever actually happened to anybody I knew." Link said, "Look at Lyon, he should be dead too, and he's fine!"

"By fine do you mean unconscious?" Ike asked.

"I'd be more worried about Roy." Fox said before he ran to the window. Ike and Link followed him while Samus put her helmet back on after which she walked up behind them. When they looked down they saw Roy running around below, screaming his head off. "No, scratch that, he's fine."

"Won't his fragile mind be scarred now, though?" Ike asked.

"Mind? He has one now? Sure don't look like it." Link mumbled.

"Well, addressing your question, Samus..." Ike continued, looking at the bounty hunter, "I'm not sure, but the Serenes Herons may be able to help you too."

"Really?" Samus asked, unbelieving.

"Well, it depends on what happened to you. If it's some form of corruption, they should be able to help."

"One of the worst kinds." Samus replied lightly.

"There was this one gradon laguz-wait, you know what a Laguz is, right?" Ike asked.

"Yes."

"Good. There was this mad king named Ashnard that had some creep develop a serum that would lock a laguz in their beast form and make them more powerful, but it also drove them starkers, as in insane. The herons can restore people's souls and bodies back to normal with their magic. They can help Roy, definitely. You, i'm not so sure about since you're close to the point of death, but there's still a good chance."

"If there's a slim chance I can be healed, I'll take anything." Samus answered, determined, "It would be irresponsible for me to die and leave all of you in this mess. I'm not ready to die yet."

"You're strong, Samus, you always have been." Fox said, "We've known you for so long, if you died you'd leave a big hole in our hearts."

"I know." Samus said, "That's why I can't die, at least not yet."

"Then, we shall leave in the morning." Ike said, "If you only have a month we can't afford to waste time. Get as much rest as you can tonight, for tomorrow will be a very long day."

"Luigi and Lyon will have a head start, then." Link said, looking at the two still figures lying on the floor."

"No, they'll be worse off." Ike sighed, "Unconsciousness does not equal sleep. I can tell you that much. They're going to wake up and feel like they were sat on by a Snorlax."

"I guess you picked up on things pretty quick, back at the mansion." Fox said.

"Yeah, I guess I do." Ike said, scratching his head again.

"That's good. I don't care what you think, Ike, but you'll always be a friend. Once a Super Smash Brother, always a super smash brother." Link said, clapping him on the shoulder.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Paul: Say hello to my longest chapter yet in this story! Whahoo! The only time a chapter got this long was back near the end of Supremacy.**

**Kirby: Yayz!**

**Roy: When can I get my mind back? I'm sick of acting like a court jester.**

**Lyon: (Grouchy) So am I!**

**Roy: You aren't being stupid...**

**Lyon: No, i'm tired of you too!**

**Roy: Well, I never!**

**Ike: This looks like a good start to an arc. Radiant Dawn was a really hard and fun game!**

**Paul: Just a bit of info for you readers, I took 60+ hours getting through it on the first run, lol. I was taking my time, something I don't usually do on my first run through a game. Seriously, it was soooooooooo much fun. Only played it once, but I can tell you already it is THE hardest FE game yet, and I only played it on NORMAL mode!!! O_O**

**Sheik: That battle scene against the fortress was boring. (Scowls)**

**Paul: I admit...I didn't think that battle would be interesting, anyways. So I cut it short. It was NOT important, so no whining from anybody! You haven't missed anything yet.**

**Falco: Shut the author up already. The end notes are our show, and he need to back off! It's the only place where we're allowed to speak freely without following a plot!**

**Paul: (Blows raspberry) Fine, take it away!**

**Roy: So anyways, what's the gossip?**

**Sheik: I'm supposed to take Dr. Mario and rescue those prisoners, which the author has failed to specify.**

**Lyn: the readers are supposed to figure out on their own that the people are Mario, peach, and Toadsworth.**

**Kirby: Shut up, ya dork! Ya spoiled it!**

**Midna: It was obvious, I mean, come on.**

**Paul: That's enough. You guys can have fun next chapter notes. I need to end this, so SHOVE OFF!**

**Ike: Oh, come on! Just a little bit more time?**

**Link: Please?**

**Paul: No, go away. Thanks for reading, everybody. I need to credit the staff at Fire Emblem Planet for the script, which I edited for Ike's conversation with Elincia regarding the Black Knight. Speaking of which, What's he doing up and walking around!? Isn't he dead? O_O And what will Matt and co. run into during their search for the Time Stones? For those of you that don't know, I will be heavily referencing a sonic game called Sonic CD, which is where the planet and the Time Stones originated from. If you've played that game, you'll know some of what to expect. This chapter was the OFFICIAL start of the three arcs, so now I hope you enjoy what happens after. This is going to be THE craziest Arc bundle i've ever written, and things are only going to get crazier after this. Thanks for reading, everybody, and i'll see you all next time! I think i'll be able to update faster this time, not 'cause i'm busy, but because I'm actually on the right track now. It helps to be writing about interesting stuff, which i'm sure you guys all know what I mean. See you guys next time! (Officially largest chapter so far in Corruption! Didn't think it would be this easy to do, lol!)**

**With that said, Adieu, and Please Review!**

**-Shining Riku-  
**


	63. Trouble comes in Sevens!

**Paul: Well, fudge. I wrote a giant chapter and hardly anybody reviewed. -_-;; How do ya like that?**

**Matt: Pbbth, that's what you get for getting high expectations.**

**Paul: (rolls eyes) Meh. As a result my desire for notes has been killed. Is it just me, or has the internet been really _dead_ lately?**

**Ness: Dead=nobody on.**

**Paul: Like I said, i'm just really annoyed. The Fav character poll is closed now, so I want to start another one. I also changed a tiny bit of stuff IN my profile. So, I wanna know what else people might like to vote about, and as a final note:**

**Nintendogeek01, Supersmasher025, Kbxshadow, consider yourselves challenged. I want to duel you on brawl. I need you to send me your brawl codes in PMs...I can also send you mine if you like but mine is also on my profile page. I hope to see you guys on the battlefield! (Salutes)**

**I'm not getting my hopes up again if this chapter ends up being long, but dang, it's annoying. I'd like a LITTLE bit of compensation for my work. **

**Actually, just ignore me. I'm being irritable, lol. (Makes a dumb face) Sorry if I hurt anybody's feelings. Still, short notes! I guess i'll do a fav. villain poll, but not right away. I wanna wait til after something specific happens before I do that.**

**EDIT: Notes are extremely outdated, by about a MONTH. I was taking a break working on an RPG. For some reason I just didn't feel like working on this. SORRY, PEEPS! More at the end notes.  
**

**-Chapter XXXXXXIII-**

**-Trouble comes in Sevens-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

When people get bored, they do stupid stuff. It comes naturally to the human race, or anybody with an intelligence level on par with the average human for that matter.

That was why the smashers made a contest out of collecting the rings.

"I've got twenty already!" Ness cheered loud enough for everybody to hear while he smashed one of Eggman's robots with his yo-yo.

"Pbth, I've got thirty!" Matt taunted.

"How are you guys beating me?" Sonic asked irritably, only possessing ten to his name.

"It's cause your all faster than me!" Bowser complained. He was reduced to the speed of a slug. "I keep getting hit by robots and falling on spikes!"

Yoshi and Pichu told him to lose weight.

"This sucks dork." Bowser sobbed pathetically as he fell on another patch of spikes and lost all his rings.

"If you stop crying and focus, you might actually get something accomplished!" Sonic suggested.

"We have about seventy five rings, everybody!" Ness announced, "Twenty five more and that giant ring should appear."

"Then let's get on it!" Sonic said. The next part of the area was a giant structure that went straight up into the air. There was a curve at the bottom of the vertical 'ramp' where a wheel device was suspended just above the surface. Sonic ran straight into the contraption and was launched right up the giant ramp like a cannonball. When he ran off the top of the ramp he shot into the sky and through a cloud after which he didn't come back down. Matt followed after him and ran up the ramp as well with the same result. The rest of the team shot off of it and into the sky, where they soared really high and then plummeted into a shallow pool of water.

Sonic came up, spluttering furiously. "I hate getting wet!"

"More Rings!" Ness cheered. They ran down the path for a few more moments and added another ten rings to their collection. After a while they came across some platforms on the side of a cliff and a spring that would bring them to the top. Ness hopped on the spring and shot up high into the air and Pichu and Yoshi followed after him. Sonic, Bowser, and Matt took the lower path across some strange spinning disc platforms.

"These things are sticky!" Matt whined after jumping on one.

"They make a satisfying snap noise once you jump off." Sonic said as he jumped off. Matt chuckled at the noise, and bounded across the rest of the platforms.

"A little help here?" Bowser asked, stuck tight. Sonic ran over and spin-dashed into his backside and knocked him loose, and repeated the process three times to get him across the platforms. Up above, Ness, Baby Yoshi, and Pichu ran across a collapsing bridge while grabbing another five rings.

"Just ten more! Sonic announced. They ran up the side of a large hill and dropped down to the ground on the other side after a brief drop and landed right in the middle of a group of robots. Sonic skipped off a few and destroyed them with his jump attack. Everybody else but Bowser was hopping on top of them to conserve rings, and the Koopa King hung back like a coward. He couldn't jump but two feet into the air here. It was pathetic and he knew it. After the Badniks were vanquished they marched on through the rolling greens and collected another ten rings before reaching the goal flag. Up above the sign was a spinning ring that was so big, Bowser could use it for a hamster wheel!

"That's one big ring!" Matt said, shading his eyes.

"Jump into the center! Quick!" Sonic said, panicking.

"Why?" Ness asked, "Are we in a hurry?"

"Yesyesyesyes." Sonic said hopping up and down. He grabbed the psychic boy in his arms and chucked him into the ring, after which he vanished with a strange whooshing noise.

"Sonic! There you are!" A familiar voice shouted.

"Oh noez! AMY!" Sonic screamed. He catapulted himself into the ring and vanished with another whoosh. Pichu, Yoshi, and Bowser jumped after him (Bowser with a small degree of difficulty), and Matt hung back just a second to get a glimpse of Amy.

He was surprised. She looked to be no older than a small child, a very small child with an infatuation with a blue hedgehog. She had on a little green dress and red shoes, and her quills were more like sonic's, in that they stuck out in the back.

"Some things never change." Matt said philosophically before leaping into the ring. It turned once and vanished from existence, and the little pink hedgehog ground to a disappointed halt, her objective now out of her reach.

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"We've got company!" Midna shouted, "Take them out!"

Falco flung himself at the GUN soldiers like a torpedo and slammed beak first into his opponents. The spinning attack sent them flying everywhere and left a deep gouge in their forces that was quickly filled up with the Smashers. Jun fired a burst of fire from her hand point-blank in the faces of the soldiers in front of her, and while they were distracted Pit rained down shining pain on them with light arrows. Lyn bolted right into the thick of the crowd and cut them down with ease.

Paul smashed the hilt of his sword into the face of a soldier behind him and twirled around to cut him across the middle. The soldier fell with a pained gasp and left an opening for an attack. The mageknight fired a burst of wind from his sword that formed a sharp cutter, and the cutter hit another three soldiers. Kirby was knocking GUN soldiers out left and right with his hammer.

"These soldiers are pathetic." Midna sighed. "All this is is pointless violence."

"Pfft, i'll say." Sora agreed, popping a soldier upside his kisser with the Keyblade.

"RETREAT!" One of the soldiers screamed. He bolted from the hallway as fast as his legs could carry him, and most of the other soldiers took off after him.

"Oh no you don't!" Lyn cried, drawing her bow. She pulled out an arrow and was about to pierce one of the retreating soldiers between the shoulderblades when Fina pushed the bow down with her hand.

"They gave up fighting us, no need to take their lives." Fina insisted gently. "There are much less extreme measures."

"Sora!" Paul shouted, "After them! We can't let them get reinforcements!"

"Why are YOU bossing me around?" Sora complained, "I thought I was YOUR boss!"

"Maybe some other time?" Paul shrugged. The two friends took off after the retreating soldiers, and before they could escape Sora and Paul screeched to a halt and charged up their magic power for a spell.

"STOPGA!" They both cried in unison. They froze the crowd in their tracks and turned them into living statues before turning around and running back to the battle back where their friends were. When they got back all the rest of the enemies were finished off already. Falco was seen blowing smoke off of his Prism Blaster and a few of the smashers were shaking their heads.

"Overkill, Dude." Kirby said.

"It did the job." Falco retorted, "Nobody else thought to pull out their special weapons, and this fight lacked color anyways!"

"Is he trying to be witty?" Jun groaned.

"Yes, and he managed it with 'flying colors'." Midna replied sarcastically.

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"Wow, how long has it been since we were here? It sure feels great to be home." Ike's sister Mist said.

"Yeah, we've been away for too long... Dealing with Crimean nobles always seems to take longer than it should. At least now we can finally get some rest." Ike sig

"Still, it was nice to be needed, don't you think?" Ike's co-commander Titania asked. "Especially for a band of mercenaries as poor as we are.

"You know, Ike, if you hadn't renounced your lordship, we wouldn't have to run around like this to support ourselves." Mist said.

"Wait, you, a noble?" Link asked, surprised.

Ike was instantly rendered flustered. "Mist, I..." He started apologizing. His sis shushed him with a playful wave of her hand.

"Oh, I know. I'm just teasing you, silly." Mist laughed. "Besides, I'd rather spend my time helping people. Who wants to live like some overstuffed noble, anyway? Definitely not me! We have Father's legacy to look after, as well the Greil Mercenaries."

"Ike, a visitor to see you." Soren called from the doorway of the small room.

"Ike was a noble?" Link whispered/asked Samus. She promptly bopped him upside the head.

"A visitor? Who is it?" Ike asked. His question was answered when a Laguz man with a skinny build, and light blue hair entered the room.

"Long time no see, Ike." Ranulf said. "I've been looking all over Crimea for you. You're never home!" He complained jokingly.

"Ranulf!" Ike said, smiling widely. "How are you, my old friend? How's everyone in Gallia? Is Caineghis well?"

"Everyone's doing great. We laguz don't take ill too easily, so it's hard not to be well." Ranulf replied as he leaned on the door frame.

"Seeing you again brings back memories. We couldn't have won the war if not for Gallia's aid...and yours especially." Ike said, adding the last bit on as an afterthought.

"Well, same goes for you. Who knows where Gallia would be if not for Ike and the Greil Mercenaries!" Ranulf exclaimed.

"Kitty!" Roy yelled as he appeared from out of thin air and yanked Ranulf's tail.

"Speaking of old friends... I saw Princess Leanne in the Crimean royal court. Apparently, she'd been looking for me, too. She said, Please save my brothers. Do you know what she's talking about?" Ike asked, trying to ignore Roy's distracting antics.

"So, she's heard." Ranulf said seriously as he extricated his tail from the pyromaniac's grasp. "Let me get straight to the point, Ike. I have some bad news. War has come to us once again."

Ike scowled. "That's what I heard from these guys." He said, waving a hand towards his fellow Smashers. "Can you give me any details?"

"The Laguz Alliance, which is made up of Gallia, Phoenicis, and Kilvas, is setting out against Begnion. The situation has escalated very quickly." Ranulf sighed.

"Escalated seems a bit soft." Ike said. "I know there are problems between the laguz and Begnion, but I thought things were getting better."

"Rafiel, the eldest son of the herons, brought back some disturbing news from Daein." Ranulf explained, "He'd learned that Begnion senators ordered the herons' extermination. This spurred the laguz to strike against Begnion. That's why I came looking for you, Ike. We need your help."

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"So, Begnion's senator ordered the extermination?" Fox asked, after Ike explained everything that had happened to them. "That's cruel, and unjust!"

"Unfortunately it seems they are the most common types of people to be elected into high ranking positions." Samus said while examining her arm cannon and making adjustments. "Take the GUN commander for example."

"Mass genocide." Lyon sighed, closing his eyes. _I'm no better._ He thought. _I have yet to atone for my crimes._

"So what should we do now?" Luigi asked as he looked at Samus out of the corner of his eyes, "It sounds like one of the herons is here in Crimea. Should we heal Samus first or-"

"It doesn't work that way." Ike sighed, cutting him short. "At least, I don't know if it does. We may need two herons to heal the damage done to Samus' body. One heron should be enough for Roy, however."

"Do we even have the time to return to Melior though?" Samus asked, "Ranulf seemed quite hurried to have us join him."

"He was...impatient?" Ike asked, surprised. "He seemed pretty cool about it to me."

"His face can say one thing, but his body can say another." Samus replied, tapping her visor. "Sorry, I couldn't resist scanning him."

"Roy doesn't seem to be in any immediate trouble." Ike said indicating their fiery friend, "It's you i'm worried about, Samus. Should I make them wait a tiny bit longer so we can visit Leanne?"

"I still have a few weeks." Samus said, "The way everybody's speaking about these Herons, I have a feeling we'll run into one or two of them soon enough."

"I'll respect your decision." Ike said, "But, i'm not going to let you die because of mine. If we can't find anybody, you and the rest of your team will have to leave and find the herons on your own. The Laguz need my aid, and as long as I am able I shall lend that same help to you all."

"We understand, Ike." Link said.

"I'm sorry this happened, but it's all so sudden." Ike sighed, "I've been dead busy the past couple of months. I still remember hearing about the mansion getting attacked. If you ask me this world is going to pieces."

"No kidding." Lyon mumbled, taking another look at Roy.

"We've been just as busy, if not more." Link agreed, "We're here, Ike, and as far as I know none of our fellow smashers have been unfortunate enough to meet death face to face."

"That's a relief." Ike said, "Then I guess our path is set. We set off for Gallia! I'll gather my mercenaries and we should be ready to leave very soon. I hope you're prepared."

"Always!" Fox said, saluting.

"I hope we don't have to fight anybody scary." Luigi shuddered.

"Eh, I'll keep you safe I promise." Samus said, patting him on the back.

"FUNGUS!" Roy screamed in his ear suddenly.

It took about five minutes to get Luigi off the ceiling, and when Samus finally grabbed him with the grapple beam and pulled him down everybody was ready to leave.

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First thing Sonic and co. noticed was that the ground was very very flat. After that, they noticed there was also lots of water scattered around the 'stage', and that the black sky was full of blue nebulae and planets of many sizes and colors.

"Wow!" Matt exclaimed.

"See any UFOs?" Sonic asked while taking a look around the place.

"Hey, what's that up in the sky?" Ness asked.

"Oh, that counter up on the front of the screen, in the top right corner?" Sonic asked, "That would be the timer-OH SHOOT!"

They had twenty seconds left.

"I see them!" Bowser said, pointing his claws at a crowd of UFOs. There were twelve instead of six, though...Not including a blue one.

With ten seconds to go, Sonic dashed forward and slammed into the blue UFO with red lines. It shattered in an earsplitting explosion and added another thirty seconds to the timer. By now the rest of the team was making their move. Bowser ran along like a tank and grabbed a few rings off the ground and spent them so he could breathe fire. He fired a burst of flame and managed to blow up two of the UFOs and earned a few more rings. Ness used the rings Bowser just earned to launch PK Flash at another of the UFOs, bringing the enemy count down to nine. The timer hit twenty seconds again and Matt was the closest to the Blue UFO. He tried running after it but it stayed just far enough away from him that he couldn't hit it. It suddely swerved to the side and forced him to make a U turn. Once he was back up to speed, he jumped to the right just as it tried escaping again and destroyed it with a whack from Ness's borrowed bat. The timer went from five seconds back up to thirty five. While he was chasing down the blue UFO everybody else was busy hunting the elusive Purple UFOs. Pichu spotted the next one and took it down with a well aimed Thunder attack. When the bolt of lightning hit Pichu though, she lost a few rings because she didn't have her resistance anymore. Yoshi ate one of the rings Pichu dropped and turned it into and egg, which he then tossed at the nearest UFO.

Bowser was trying to reach the rest of the UFOs, but his speed and low rings worked against him. He wasn't paying attention to where he was walking, and that happened to be in the water. The timer dropped at triple speed and was down to five seconds again before he knew what was happening, and was out of the water just when the timer reached two. Sonic destroyed the blue UFO again because it appeared just in front of him. His attack also destroyed his original target and took resulted in another UFO going down.

"Six to go!" Sonic called.

"So far this is kinda easy." Matt said, "Why don't they fight back though?"

"Not made that way I guess." Ness said.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi protested. The team resumed their beatdown of the UFOs, and soon there was but one left. It sweated bullets as it tried to flee from Sonic. It dashed to the left to avoid his jump attack, but the hedgehog predicted the movement and flung himself after it. It exploded amidst a cloud of flaming shrapnel, and Sonic landed on a foot and a knee, with the first Time Stone clutched in his hand.

"OH YEAH!" He cheered, thrusting the green stone into the air with a victorious shout. The dimension they were in faded away to an empty white, and just as suddenly as it appeared it dropped them back into Palmtree Manic with an unceremonious THUD.

"That's one stone down, and six more to go!" Sonic sighed happily, tossing the stone back and forth between his hands.

"Can we use it like the Chaos Emeralds?" Ness asked, dusting himself off.

"I dunno." Sonic replied, handing the stone over to the psychic. "I didn't know enough about the emeralds when I first came here. I suppose we'll just have to find out."

"Here." Ness handed the stone back. "You ought to carry it."

"We'll examine it later." Matt said, "We don't know much about it, other than it's the key to getting off this planet."

"I want my old power back." Bowser moaned, "I'm feeble now!"

Naturally, Pichu and Yoshi assaulted him with verbal insults.

"I'm gonna kick your tails up your butts when we get outta this place, that's a promise." Bowser growled. They responded by sticking out their tongues.

"That's enough." Matt said, grabbing the naughty pair and holding them hostage in his arms.

"We need to find Eggman in this area and kick his tush." Sonic said as he pocketed the Time Stone. "Once we defeat him here we can move on to the next area and begin our search for the rest of the time stones."

"Good." Ness said. "Let's keep going!"

The team dashed off over the top of the hill into the next part of Palmtree Panic, on their way to stop Eggman's schemes once again.

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Back at Fort Saradin, things were actually gong well for the Smashers for once. The main team was met with little opposition, and they could only guess at Sheik's success.

Speaking of Sheik, she and Dr. Mario were currently navigating the narrow confines of a ventilation shaft. The Sheikah warrior scaled the vertical wall like a human spider while Dr. Mario dangled below her, clutching the chain Sheik usually used for combat.

"How ya doin, Doc?" Sheik called over her shoulder.

"I'm feeling kinda sick but other than that i'm swell." Dr. Mario gulped.

Sheik suppressed the urge to giggle and continued forging her path. Once she ascended high enough that she felt they were in the right place, she brandished Dr. Mario's surgical knife and started sawing her way through the siding of the shaft. After a nice square was cut out she socked the pane with her fist and sent the section flying out. After they she hoisted herself out of the tube and landed with cat-like grace on the stone floor and proceeded to reel Dr. Mario up like a captured fish.

When they were both safely out of the shaft Sheik put the cut out section back where it was originally and turned her attention back to her partner, who was regaining his land legs.

"That's the last time I get so adventurous." He sighed.

"You gotta toughen up sometime, Doc." Sheik replied, "An' I don't see what's wrong with startin' now."

"I wish I kept my job as a simple doctor sometimes." Dr. Mario said, "But at least this way i'm probably saving more people at a faster rate. Funny, huh?"

"Absolutely hysterical." Sheik replied in monotone as she looked for an exit. The room they were in was dark and dank, and there were pipes and shafts everywhere. After awhile Sheik spotted a service hatch. She pulled the doc over to it and rested him up against the wall like an inanimate doll and set to work loosening all of the bolts around the grate.

"How long do you think that's gonna ta-" Dr. Mario asked. He was cut short when Sheik yanked the grate off the wall and flashed him a silly look before tossing the whole thing over her shoulder into the back of the room.

"Any more questions, Doc? Or are we gonna get back to our quest?" Sheik asked before catapulting herself into the recess behind the wall.

"Here we go again." the good doc sighed.

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"HYAH!" Jun shouted. She grabbed a man by the scruff of his military uniform, and with her formidable strength she tossed him into a wall where he was instantly knocked out. Before a nearby soldier could rush in and attack her, Sora came sliding in with his keyblade. Using his weapon the Keyblade wielder knocked the man off his feet and biffed him on the head.

At the back of the battle Minda and another soldier were in a double stranglehold. The soldier had Midna trapped against his chest with his muscular arms, and she had him around the neck with her hand/hair. Biting on his arm didn't budge his position at all, and granted her legs were far too short to kick him where the sun doesn't shine. It happens that the base DID have some elite troops in it after all, and because of that, the saying "All is well" would be a lie of the worst kind.

"Stop!" Paul ordered, casting a spell on two of the men in front of him. However, the enchantment failed and they dashed towards the now vulnerable teenager. Fina suddenly cast a spell that enveloped the duo in a cloud of black smoke laced with lightning. They came out of the cloud with a glazed look in their eyes, and started firing upon their allies with their machine guns.

"What'd you do?!" Paul asked, shocked.

"Just a little bit of magic. I confused them." Fina smiled lightly before firing a jet of lightning from her hand. Paul shrugged and dodged the butt of a gun aimed at his face. He disarmed the soldier by knocking the gun out of his hand, then he used his Freeze Break attack to turn him into a block of ice.

"Watch your back Doofus!" Falco shouted, shooting down a wide swath of soldiers with his Prism Blaster.

"You wanna get flashy?" Kirby growled as he pulled out his Star Rod, "Then take this!" He shot a beam at Falco and turned his body into diamond, then started firing beams all over the place. His beams scorched the soldiers and caused them to scream like lunatics and run around.

"Oooh..Shiny!" Falco gasped, looking at himself.

"Funny way to play on his narcisstic nature pal." Pit smirked while giving the star warrior a thumbs up.

"It's my job to be pesky." Kirby replied good naturedly, "Go on and pull out your big stuff too!"

"If you say so!" Pit said. He closed his eyes and focused all his energy into his gauntlet, which flashed brilliantly and once again awoke as the Mercury Armlet. He drew back a light arrow on his bow and fired it at a soldier. The arrow instantly vanquished him with a bright explosion.

"RETREAT!" The soldiers screamed like girls and bolted out of the room.

"Dang!" Lyn shouted angrily, "I really wanted to use the Sol Katti!"

"Next time, slowpoke!" Falco said striking a very...annoying pose. Lyn tried kicking him where Midna was trying to kick her captor earlier, but his diamond-like body resisted the frustrated blow.

"Hey, where IS Midna?" Sora asked suddenly.

"That's a good question." Kirby said, scratching his head with his rod.

"This one soldier had her in a stranglehold...I thought she was doing ok so I didn't interrupt." Jun said shyly, "Should I have done something?"

"D'OH!" Pit said, "They went and captured her!"

"She can learn some manners first." Falco said.

"So can you!" Kirby said, smacking him with the star rod and returning him to normal.

"Hey!" Falco yelled, "I was gonna sell myself and get stupid rich!"

"It's also my job to give and take away!" Kirby replied smartly.

"Come on, everybody!" Paul said, "We have to rescue Midna or Link's gonna murderize us!"

"He has a point, you know." Fina told Lyn before the group dashed after Midna's kidnappers.

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**DANG! I'm SOOOOOOOOO sorry about my delay! I distracted myself with working on a game of mine, and i'm sorry I let that get in the way of updating.**

**Nice thing is...I can stick this game, or a demo of it at least, on the internet so you folks can upload it and give it a shot. It's a SSB game...sorta, and it features a few of the Smashers as main characters as well as a few other OCs by me. (Only one's human, Paul.) The other members are Link, Roy, Dr. Mario, and a few others I will divulge some other time. You could think of it as a super late Christmas present! ^_^**

**Speaking of which, MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

**Kirby: Merry Christmas, everybody!**

**Sheik: The man's sorry about his delayin' ways. Couldja let it slip just once more?**

**Falco: I hate to say this but there's no story without some idiot author behind it. It's the truth.**

**Samus: Darn. I wanted to shoot him!**

**Paul: *gulp* Can we leave the shooting til after the trilogy is finished? Anyways, thanks for reading guys. My next update should be longer, and i'd like to hear a few opinions on the FE 10 arc. I think I might freelance it instead of following the script. And additionally, unless if they're super important, i'll try ignoring the other FE characters as much as possible. I'm gonna stick with the 'team', so to speak.**

**It's 3:00 in ze morning, so I may as well call it quits. This will be the last update until after Christmas, after which I will hopefully be in the mood to crack down and start cranking updates out again. I cut this update short because of deadlines and stuff, 'cause i'm leaving to go to Ohio from Georgia this coming sunday. Wish me luck as I visit my Grandparents! Again, thanks for readin' and sticking with me! Enjoy the holidays, and don't let anybody shoot Santa out of the sky with bazookas this time!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**~Merry Christmas!~  
**


	64. The Despair of Failure

**WOW... Somebody shoot me. O_O Looks like I can't keep a promise to save my life.**

**Sheik: I tried defendin' you last chapter, but it looks like you haven't seen the error of your ways yet! I can't keep stickin' up for ya!**

**Paul: I know *Sob* I shoulda updated sooner!**

**Before I go into this, I just wanted to talk to you guys a moment. I've got two reasons, nay, three reasons I haven't really been back on.**

**My absolute biggest reason for staying off has been a strong bout of laziness, most likely left over from my graduation. **

**Reason Numero Dos is i've been distracted by my game projects. Again. Good news is i'm making lots of progress if any of you are interested in giving my games a shot! :P**

**My saddest reason is, my grandpa that I visited this Christmas passed away. I'm really glad I got to see him one last time before he left. Two trips to Ohio can take a lot out of you. Especially if the second trip is for somebody's funeral. I'm sure my Grandpa is in a better place, and I doubt he liked being sick and frail, like he had been the past few months.**

**I'm really gonna miss him, and if you feel like it you may take a moment of silence if you wish, but i'm not forcing anybody. :(**

**Sorrow aside.........Let's get back to what we're doing here. Obviously if you are reading this i've finished writing this chapter! Yay! I've decided to freelance the FE arc, I always seem to do better doing that. You can still expect to see a few key scenes, but those will be freelanced as well. :) Here's to hoping for a good chapter! I don't have much else to say except thank you all for staying with me and waiting, impatiently or patiently, for this update.**

**As a final note, I sure wish I had my old spark back from when I first started writing stories. *WHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!***

**-Chapter XXXXXXIV-**

**-The Despair of Failure-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Back on the planet of time (Whatever it is called) Matt's team continued their quest to retreive the Time Stones.

Sonic and Matt ran ahead of the group a few feet, acting as the navigators. Everybody else followed behind (Fell behind in Bowser's case) and hoped that they would get enough rings to trigger the appearance of another Giant Ring.

"Are we almost there yet? Ness complained.

"We should be getting close to this world's border." Sonic replied, "Once we pass the border we should enter into the next area, Collision Chaos."

"Collision Chaos?" Bowser asked, "Why am I getting a bad feeling about that place?"

"You're just paranoid." Matt said. "So far, no sign of that fathead Eggman."

"You know he's gonna appear soon because you said that." Ness said, "I mean, come on! It's just asking for him to drop out of nowhere and start fighting us!"

"Loop-de-loop up ahead." Sonic announced, "Pick it up a little, people!" He dashed off and headed for the loop. Everybody else kicked it into high gear and bolted after him. They entered the loop safely, bowser still hanging a little behind. They were ALMOST out of the loop when it happened.

Bowser, being the slug that he was in this dimension, was halfway through the loop when he lost momentum and gravity brought his fatness back down to earth. He bellowed in surprise as he plummette. Unfortunately it wasn't enough of a warning, and he landed on top of the whole team in one fell swoop. The impact shook the ground and cracked it open, revealing a fissure below the crew.

"Bowser you idiOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!" Matt screamed as he was pulled into the crack. He grabbed Yoshi's tail and caused a chain reaction that brought the whole team crashing down the crack.

Sonic looked around frantically for something to grab and spotted a sign post hanging from the side of the shaft. He seized it with his hands and felt a surge of power flood his arms. He looked at the sign in surprise as it hummed, and managed to catch the word "Future" written on the head of the sign before it started spinning. It popped him upside the face and incidentally sent him rocketing downwards.

"Not one of those again!!!!!!!!!!!" Sonic shouted. He shot past everybody else amidst a cloud of white sparks that were coming from his body. He fell a good distance past the team before a giant vortex of energy erupted from his body and consumed him and the team. The next thing they noticed, they were still falling. They then found out that they were very close to the ground...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A cloud of dust shot up from the impact area and slowly settled. Once he regained enough sense, Ness pulled his oversized head from the ground and looked at their new surroundings.

"...Uh, good news is, we're back on the surface!" Ness whistled.

"And that's the good news!?" Matt yelped after taking a look at their surroundings.

"Uh...Yeah, I just remembered something I should have explained to you guys." Sonic said, scratching his head sheepishly, "There's these sign things that give you the power to travel through time once after you touch them. I touched one."

"Well, I think that explains our predicament then." Bowser said, "What kind of sign did you touch."

"Does a Future Sign mean anything to you?"

"Maybe."

"Look at this place!" Ness screamed. Imagine the camera view panning outward and revealing Palmtree Panic...Dead. The grass was purplish in color, the sky was smoky and purple, the water was purple, and the trees were replaced by machines that were shaped like palmtrees and connected by a long series of pipes.

"What happened here?" Matt asked, shocked.

"Eggman." Sonic replied simply.

"But since we're here to stop him, why does the future look like this then!?" Ness asked, "I'd have thought, since we are trying to stop him, won't he be stopped in the future?"

"Not in this place." Sonic said, "It all depends on who has the Time stones, and for that matter how many of them. If you gave our team and Eggman points to see who was winning this battle, it'd be 1-6 in this planet's eye. So, in reality Eggman has six of the time stones and that makes him the winner."

"That sucks." Bowser said.

"Sounds like our enemies always get some kind of advantage." Matt sighed in disgust.

"Nobody ever said our job was easy." Sonic said, shrugging.

"I know I know." Matt said, "This just gets kinda...OLD, after awhile."

"I'll say." Ness said.

"Mind if I drop in on this interesting conversation?" Somebody asked from way above.

"Uh oh!" Baby Yoshi managed to blurt. Everybody but Bowser managed to dive out of the way in time as Eggman dropped from the sky. He was situated in the cockpit of a bipedal machine that wielded two boxing gloves decorated with a star on each one.

"Eggman, why are you using that machine again?" Sonic asked, on the verge of laughing.

"Why do you always have to insult my machines!?" Eggman yowled, "Besides, this one ain't so bad as you think!"

"I beat you in three seconds the last time you used that piece of trash." Sonic said, unimpressed.

"He's just bluffing!" Eggman said, sweating bullets.

"If he's that easy, then i'll take him out myself!" Bowser roared. He threw Eggman off himself with a mighty heave of his arms and stood up to dust himself off. "Ok, Eggman! Prepare to get poached!"

"Dwah!" Eggman yelped as his machine tumbled across the ground. He got up in time to block a punch from Bowser with one of his bouncy fists and countered with a sucker punch to Bowser's gut. The Koopa King grunted as the blow pushed him back a few yards and knocked some of the wind out of him. He confronted eggman once more and the two flew into a storm of punches.

"This is so hilarious to watch." Matt chuckled.

"Hey, support me, i'm on your side!" Bowser whined.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi shouted. (You're just as much of a wuss right now as he is! This couldn't get any funnier if you sissy slapped each other!)

"You know, that would probably be easier to do." Eggman said.

"Are you out of your dork!?" Bowser yelled, "I will not be humiliated like this! Take THAT!" Bowser then threw a really strong punch that caught Eggman's machine right in the chest. It left a huge crater that emitted sparks, and Eggman looked at the damage with panic.

"Uh oh! Time to go!" He said. He hit the ejection button just as the machine exploded, and he screamed as he flew off into the sky.

After he dissapeared in a twinkle, Ness lowered the hand he was using to shade his eyes and shook his head, "That was pathetic."

"Anybody up for pinball?" Sonic asked nonchalantly.

"How can you even think of something like that at a time like this?" Matt asked.

"I was asking that because there's lots of Pinball in Collision Chaos!" Sonic retorted, "And that means we're the pinballs!"

Pichu stuck her tongue out.

"You know, you've been quiet for the past few minutes." Bowser commented.

Pichu yelled at him.

"I'm not even gonna translate what she just said." Ness said, wide eyed.

"Let's get going already." Sonic sighed, "I don't want Amy to catch up to us."

"Amy's HERE!?" the psychic asked.

"Rather, her past self." Sonic said, "Either way, I don't want to run into her."

"We're in the future now. Aren't we safe from her?" Bowser asked.

"Nope. Once we cross into Collision Chaos the timeline resets itself and bring us back into this planet's present."

"Oh." Bowser replied.

"Gotta keep going, people." Sonic said, "We've got some Time Stones to recover!"

"And a pink Sonic-Radar to avoid." Ness moaned. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Unaware of the crisis the rest of their party was in, Sheik and Dr. Mario continued on their way through the guts of Fort Saradin.

Inside a super tall shaft full of pipes and gigantic cables, the duo climbed up to the top of the shaft, which would lead them to the top of the whole complex. That floor also happened to be where the prisoners were incarcerated.

Rather, Sheik did all the work. Dr. Mario was tied onto her back with the aid of the Hydra whip, and the sheikah warrior navigated the maze of pipes and wires like a monkey. Utilising a wide variety of acrobatics she managed to flip and bounce her way up to the top of a particular structure of pipes. After grabbing a horizontal pipe and swinging herself around it a few times she catapulted herself towards another bundle of pipes across the shaft. She gracefully righted herself in midair and caught one of the pipes wither her right hand and resumed her upward ascent.

"Is all of the flipping really necessary?" Dr. Mario gurgled, sounding sick, "You're causing me very unpleasant naseousness."

"Sorry, doc." Sheik apologized, "I just felt like flipping and stuff. I like feeling the breeze and rush of adrenaline."

"I could easily jab a few needles in you and give you the same adrenaline rush, but I doubt it would be a smart thing to do. Save your excess of energy for when we need it most."

"Awright. I'll keep that in mind." Sheik replied as she reached the top of the current tower of pipes. She climbed for a little while more before she stopped at a large insulated rectagular pipe-thing, a part of a ventilation system, as a matter of fact.

"You know these militarty type people will have the exits welded shut and stuff." Dr. Mario said, knowing what his companion was thinking.

"Who said anything about doing this nicely?" Sheik asked rhetorically as she drew a knife. She hopped to a nearby pipe and started sawing away at the side of the vent. Dr. Mario grabbed a nearby pipe and clambered on top of it to prevent himself from falling when Sheik finished her work. After she finished severing the majority of the vent from its fixture on the wall she kicked it away and grabbed the doc before tossing him in. He rolled clumsily along the narrow crawlspace, taken surprise by Sheik's maneuver.

She grabbed a pipe a little above and away from the entrance she had created, and swung herself a little bit to gather some momentum. When she figured she had gathered enough she left go and flew into the pipe feet first, and nearly knocked Dr. Mario out with her feet.

"Could you watch what you're doing next time?" Dr. Mario gasped, still shocked at his near-KO'd experience. He was still warrily eyeing Sheik's boots in front of his face.

"Sorry, doc."

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"How are we gonna find Midna in a place like this?" Pit asked worriedly.

"We could always tear it down." Falco suggested.

"Not like that, you dork!" Lyn said.

"You're the crazy killing machine, not me!" Falco squawked.

"That's enough!" Sora said.

"Hey, who are they!?" Kirby suddenly asked. The team was running through the base as fast as they could, trying to locate their recently kidnapped ally, Midna.

The star warrior was pointing at a group of soldiers that were running away from them, and they incidentally happened to be the people they were looking for.

"That's them!" Fina shouted. Unfortunately her cry alerted the enemies to their aproach.

"Oh, shoot!" One of them yelped before they bolted down the hallway.

"After them!" Jun cried. They dashed after Midna's captors, and Pit managed to catch a glimpse of Midna trapped between one of the soldier's arms.

"They still have Midna." Pit alerted his teammates. "I think she's knocked out, though."

"I'll be careful when i'm slicing those jerks up." Lyn promised. They rounded the corner the thugs dissapeared around and stopped at the entrance to a rather large room stuffed with machinery. They stood there a few moments before one of the soldiers reappeared and fired his tommy gun at the crew. Everybody dived to the side except for Pit, Falco, Paul, and Sora, who used their reflective skills to deflect the bullets. None of them hit the shooter, but some of them came kinda close.

"We have to take them out before we can rescue Midna." Paul said, stating the obvious.

"Peh!" Falco sniffed disdainfully. "Leave this to me, gents!"

"You idiot, you'll get smoked!" Kirby shouted.

"I'll be too busy kicking their legs up their rears to get smoked!" Falco retorted. He took a few steps forward before one of the soldiers whipped out a bazooka and blasted the bird brain straight out of the room amidst a trail of smoke.

"I told ya he was gonna get smoked!" Kirby shouted, flailing his stubby arms.

"We get it already." Sora said. The team dashed into the room, leaving Falco behind.

Pit charged at the front of the team, holding his shield up in front of his face. He drew all of the enemy fire to himself and allowed his team just enough time to scatter before he held his shield out and created a light arrow on his right armlet. By now the team had disperssed throughout the room. a couple of the soldiers charged at Pit, who held his ground and waited for them to get a bit closer before he attacked.

The first man lunged at him in an attempt to pin the angel commander on the ground, but Pit was a step ahead of him already and jumped into the air to dodge. He kicked off the man's back which sent him flying into a pile of boxes and launched himself towards the rest of the soldiers. He darted right in between two of the soldiers and stabbed the one on his right in the chest with the light arrow protruding from his armlet. He bashed the other one upside the head with his shield and flapped once more to gain a little bit more height. He leveled the rest of the squad by doing a spin kick using the momentum he gained from his flap. He glided past their fallen bodies and touched his feet down on the ground, only to kick off and fly high into the air where he used the power of the Mercury armlet to create a load of arrows. He notched all of them on his bow at once and fired them. The arrows spiraled through the air and crashed into the fallen soliders, finishing them all off at once.

Unfortunately, his maneuver put him right out in the open for the rest of the soldiers to fire at him.

"Not a chance!" Falco shouted, just as they started firing. A second before they started firing he tossed his reflector at Pit, who caught it out of reflex. All of the bullets pinged off of him and distracted the soldiers while Falco quickly closed the distance. The first soldier he ran into, he finished off with a violent uppercut kick right where the sun don't shine, and the guy was KO'd before he even landed it hurt so bad. The next to fall was finished off by a combination between Falco's Phantasm attack and a double overhead karate chop. He used his chop to flip over his head and land back on the ground, after which he kicked as hard as he could and flew toward Pit. While he was flying in the air he whipped out his Prism Blaster and peppered his foes with rainbow colored lasers before he bumped into the angel commander. Pit grabbed him underneath his armpits and spun around really fast before hurling him at another solider like a torpedo. He rammed into his target beak first and wiped the soldier out.

The rest of the soldiers were caught in a pincer movement by the team, led by Lyndis and Sora. The Keyblade Wielder knocked a few of the men off their feet with a sliding dash attack and passed underneath Lyn just as she did a forward sommersault and sliced a man in half with her gigantic katana. Jun fired a series of flaming rings from her hand that expanded to trap a few of her enemies, after which she flew through the rings at high speed, dealing a fiery slash of her sword each time she met with one of her foes. She flew out of the last ring and skidded across the pavement while leaving behind burning cinders, and turned back to see Paul jump high into the air and take out another soldier with a falling diagonal slash.

The soldiers were quickly routed after that, and Kirby took the weapons from the survivors and ate them for good measure. He gained the Missile ability from one of the bazookas, and that was a plus.

"Alright, where's the imp!?" Lyn bellowed into the faces of the captives. They flinched as she continued their verbal assault.

"Hey, that's not going to accomplish anything." Fina said, gently nudging her from the side. She turned back to the soldiers, who eyed her warrily, and asked, "Where is the little imp with the large mask and orange hair?"

"She's stuffed in one of the boxes over there." One of the soldiers said, indicating the direction with a nod of his head.

"Thank you for cooperating." Fina said with a faint smile.

"Can you please let us go?" One of the soldiers asked, "We were just following orders. Not all of us want to fight you."

"Do any of you want to fight us still?" Kirby asked, trying to sound menacing.

"I think you took care of them already." One of the other soldiers replied as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Good." Lyn said.

"We'll let you go," Paul said, "But if you take up your guns against us once more, I can't promise your safety. Get out of here while you can, take a ship or something, I don't care. Just get out of here and get back to your families if you have any. To be honest we don't want this war either, but as long as there is some evil tyrant or madman out there, we'll be fighting."

"I know how that feels..." One of the soldiers sighed.

"Ok, you can leave now. Take care, and choose the right side next time." Pit said before cutting their bonds. The men took off out of the room, some of them giving the team grateful looks, and soon the troops were gone.

"I wish we could let all of them go like that." Paul sighed, his eyes returning to the carnage left from their battle.

"Some of them would turn around and jam a knife in your spine if you have them five inches." Falco said, dusting himself off. "You better remember that, kid. Reflector, please."

Pit just looked around in confusion for a moment when he saw Falco looking at him impatiently, and then he snapped his fingers and returned the hexagonal device to its owner's hands.

"Thank you." Falco said, "As I was saying, you're almost a man now, so act like it."

"I can't keep killing people like this!" Paul shouted suddenly, "I never wanted to take somebody's life, and now I do it for a living. Tell me that's what I was meant to do for the rest of my life! Just two years ago I was sitting at my house, playing VIDEO GAMES!"

"Chill out." Falco said, panicked.

"Pressed the wrong buttons, dude." Kirby said.

"Breathe, and relax Paul." Fina said softly, "If you feel...unconfortable, let us know. You don't have to suffer alone."

"Thanks." Paul said sincerely, "But, it's too late. I just want to end this as quick as I can..."

"You're not the only one." Jun said, "I never enjoyed violence, but for some of us, it's completely normal. I can't exactly rule my country if I can't defend it, can I?"

"You have a point." the mageknight sighed.

"Water under the bridge, mate." Kirby said, "If you don't wanna kill somebody, just beat the fudge outta them so they can't beat you up."

Paul's right eye twitched a little bit before he recovered himself. "Let's just go recover Midna, ok?"

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-A couple of days later on the Tellius team's timeline-

"Heh, take this!" Link shouted. He swung his sword at Ike, who deflected the smaller Master Sword with his huge blade and launched a horizontal slash at the hylian swordsman. Link jumped back and held his shield out to keep Ike's blade from striking him and rolled on his right shoulder to dodge another strike. Ike's sword thudded into the soil with an earthy thump and sent up a cloud of dirt.

"You've gotten really powerful since we last fought together." Link commented.

"Look at him!" Samus said, waving her arms out in an exagerated gesture as if she was trying to display a huge whale. "He's ripped!"

When Ike looked at her funny, Link leaned over to his ear and whispered, "She means you're a muscular hunk." At this, Ike blushed and scratched the back of his head while grinning.

"Uh, thanks?" He replied, kinda confused. "I never got a good chance to see you fight, Link, but I've always felt that you were a good swordsman. Done sparring for the day?"

"Dunno." Link replied. "I could go all day. You?"

"I sure could, now!" Ike laughed, "I'm not so sure about when I first joined you, though. Sure, I'd just won a war and all, but I was feeling kinda worn out. I've had time to recuperate and practice a few more techniques."

"Really?" Link asked, "What kinds?"

"Well...I learned the sword from my father." Ike said, "I've been working on perfecting my swordplay, and also I've been mastering a few other techniques I saw somebody else use...The Black Knight. My father said something before he was killed, he was just talking with the knight, when he said he recognized his voice. He then went on to say that he taught the Black Knight how to fight with a sword as well."

"If you and the Black Knight are such formidable people, I can only imagine how Greil could fight." Link sighed.

"He was incredible, I tell you." Ike sighed softly, "This world sure could use his power right now."

"That's why we have you, isn't it?" Lyon said, refocusing his attention from his book to the mercenary commander.

"I suppose." Ike said. His train of thought was derailed by a sudden onslaught of noise that Roy emitted, a song about muffins for something. It was hard to tell what it was about exactly, since the maniac was screeching out every single word.

"GAH! For the love of Ashera shut up!" Some random person in the camp screamed.

"Can't you do something?" Samus asked the necromancer next to her despairingly, "For some reason the sound filters in my helmet aren't working.

"I'll try." Lyon replied, surprisingly calm. He pulled out a darkwood staff decorated with a purple jem at the top and bradished it with the tip aimed at his target, Roy. "Silence!" Lyon ordered, channeling the energy stored inside his staff to Roy's body. Roy was instantly cut silent by the spell, but he continued mouthing words to his poorly composed song.

"Volume does not make up for quality, Dang!" Fox cursed while holding his ears in pain, "If I start bleeding anywhere on my head, let me know, my whole body's feeling numb and I doubt I'd feel any pain right now."

"So..." Samus started saying, "How are we doing?"

"In this war?" Ike asked, "Fabulous. Begnion's taking heavy losses and our next move should put them under even more pressure. Unfortunately, things are starting to heat up. I hear that Begion has mobilized their Imperial army."

"That's bad, right?" Luigi asked, raising his hand.

"It's stupid bad." Fox answered, "We're talking about more than a hundred thousand well trained soldiers, am I right?"

"Unfortunately, no offense." Ike sighed as he took a seat next to Samus on the tree trunk.

"None taken." Fox replied.

"We still need to find a cure for you, Samus." Link said nervously as he started to pace about.

"I think my radiation therapy is letting up a little bit," Samus replied somewhat jokingly, "But, it's as you say. The problem hasn't gone away yet."

"I tried asking Leanne to help you." Ike sighed again, this time in frustration. "For some reason she couldn't muster up the strength to do it. All this war actually disrupts the heron's power, so you know." Ike said.

"Kinda sounds like we'll have to win this war first before that will happen, then." Luigi said.

"Hey, Lyon." Samus said.

"Yes?" Lyon asked imperilously as he looked up from his book.

"D'you think you could use some dark magic on me and slow my corruption down?"

"NO!" Lyon roared, "I swore off the practice of necromancy after Master Hand revived me-" He suddenly cut himself off and buried his nose in his book.

"Wait, what? 'Revived' you?" Fox asked, shocked.

"You were dead?" Link asked stupidly.

Lyon seemed to twitch a few times, then he relaxed and let out a sigh ladden with hidden sorrow. "Yes, I was dead once. I was but another casualty of a war I unintentionally caused, all because I wasn't strong enough to watch my father die."

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_I used to live a very lonesome existence in the keep back at my old country. My father ruled the lands of Grado firmly, but at the same time he was loved by the people. He was an emperor that cared for his people. I looked up to him because he was my father, and also the greatest man I knew._

_Even though he was so busy, he still found the time to occasionally stay with me, show me that he still cared about me. The time I waited in between those 'visits' seemed to very long to me as a child. Some time after I reached my adolescence, I started learning from many tutors. For the first time in my life, I had the chance to meet some people my age._

_I first met Ephraim and Erika in one of the smaller courtyards of Grado Keep: we quickly became fast friends, and the time we spent together had to have been the best time in my whole life._

_Some time after they had returned to their own country, finished the with lessons we took together from my tutors, my father fell ill. He worked constantly and slept little, if at all. The sickness quickly took his health and confined him to his bed. I researched magic in the vain hope to find some cure. I had experimented with the magic power possessed of the Sacred Stone of Grado, as you all should know, contained the imprisoned soul of the Demon King. My research led me to explore the power of Dark Magic, or elder magic as some of us perfer to call it. Elder Magic is fueled by knowledge, and the desire to learn the secrets of the world. _

_None of it helped me. I lost my father to the sickness and it left me filled with despair. I soon nearly drowned in my despair when my collegues and I discovered, using a lost spell that could divine furture events, that my country was destined to be destroyed by a massive earthquake. I fell deep into my research, and like my father, slept little. My reaserch almost killed me, but at the end I beleived I had discovered what might abate this disaster. In my weakness, I used the power of the Sacred stone to revive my father. I was then bewitched by the Demon King, and used as a pawn to further his own dastardly ends. He consumed my soul with his foulness, and slowly shattered my being, one piece at a time. At the end of the war, when the Demon King took me to his temple located in the darkest, foulest forest on my home continent, I was but a mere husk of my former self, only hanging on by one last shard of my soul. My dear friend Ephraim had to strike me down, but he did it in the hopes that I would finally be able to rest in peace while I still possessed my memories of who I was. Unfortunately, it was all a farce. The Demon King used my death as a sacrifice and revived himself._

_I was his tool in the end, a tool he didn't mind breaking as he saw fit. I was cast into the void, doomed to spend the rest of eternity drifting on the winds of the netherworld like a piece of paper torn until the fragments were countless._

_One day, while Master Hand explored that cursed place, he happened upon one of the shards of my soul. He took pity on my condition and worked to recover my pieces in secret, and he was even lucky enough to locate my body. He knew my deepest desire, I wanted to right the wrongs I had done, and then he extended the kindess to give me that chance. He healed my soul and returned it to its previous state and then returned me to my body before taking me out of the void. I owe my existence, now, to him. If it weren't for him, I would surely have been condemned for the rest of eternitry._

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"I'm alive, but my time is already up." Lyon said, before looking back up with determined eyes, "I can't rest until I undo the wrongs I have done. Once I've atoned for my wrongs, I will use my powers to separate myself from this world once more, and I will finally go back to where I belong... I don't deserve to live."

"Don't beat yourself up." Ike said, "The first step to atoning for what you have done, is to be sorry for the wrongs you have committed. You never intended that harm to befall your people, friends, and family."

"I'm weak!" Lyon shouted defiantly, "I couldn't move on! I lingered in the past! Look what it earned me! Even if I wanted to continue living on this plane of existance, one can only cheat death so many times! You want to know how many times you can cheat death? Never, not even once. Necromancers don't revive dead people, they reanimate the corpses of the deceased. My power is a mockery of God, the one who created life. People who play god get their just rewards in the end, and Master Hand's protection will only last so long. Face it, people, I messed up, and there's no way anything can change it. I'll never be able to rest unless if I can at least help this world not fall into evil like it almost did for my world. My mistakes have cost me everything, even my one true love. Don't play around with power that isn't yours, and keep in mind I probably won't be for this world much longer." Lyon ended his rant with a cryptic note before running off as fast as he could.

Nobody could speak after that. Their ability to speak was rendered null by the incredible pool of sadness that lingered in the air after Lyon's hasty departure. It was almost as if he couldn't contain his grief any longer, and didn't want to force it on anybody else.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Whoa. I wanted to reveal that about Lyon, but I think that just hit a new high for drama...**

**I don't have much to say, but what do you guys want to say? I hope I did good...Also, that battle with Eggman wasn't meant to be serious. For some reason I can't take that dork seriously. He makes good comic relief, and he ought to balance out the load of drama and stuff the other teams are about to, or are going through.**

**I'm going to actively pursue character development from now on. I'm already thick in the middle of my second story, and i've had little, if any, character development. Time to pull out the big guns!**

**Anyways, on a happier note, I feel a bit of my old excitement coming back. I definitely want to freelance the FE arc, but it still has to follow the main plotline of FE: Radiant Dawn. I'm just gonna cut a few of the unecessary scenes out and do the other scenes my own way.**

**Well, tell me how I did! (You don't have to, but I need criticism if I hope to improve. ^_^) I'm so sorry for keeping you guys waiting, I feel like a lousy jerk. I just hope I made up for it a little with this update. I started working on this chapter just a few days ago, so obviously the issue isn't any lack of ideas, but rather a lack of motivation and ambition. I sure could use a mob right now...**

**Wait, I was kidding. Seriously, no pitchforks. O_O**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-**

**Thanks for staying with me, folks. I wish I could thank you more, but what's saying those words over and over again gonna acomplish? :(**


	65. Ghosts of a Former Foe

**Paul: Whew! So far, so good. If you think about it, not much happened at ALL last chapter. O_O It was like taking a piece of corn and puffing it up.**

**Samus: Ignoring this twit's obvious lack of intelligence-**

**Paul: Hey!**

**Samus: As I was saying, this next chapter should have a lot more action, and it will also contain a few moments our dear author has been waiting to write for the longest time. The Fort Saradin arc wasn't meant to be very long in the first place, but it's special for a few reasons. It will actually end this chapter, which will probably be very long. After this it will just be the Sonic arc and the FE arc. Every once in a while, expect snippets from the other characters back in the Smash Dimension.**

**Paul: I was supposed to say all that. *Grumble***

**Marth: Hey, when am I gonna be back in!? I'm tired of being benched. It's been over sixty chapters since I last made my appearance.**

**Paul: Believe it or not, I actually have plans for you, but those will be addressed when the time come.**

**Marth: ...Yay?**

**Crazy Hand: Has anybody noticed how I kinda disappeared? I wanna cry!!!**

**Paul: Would all of you quit your bellyaching!? I know there's a bunch of unresolved problems but i'm still working on those! SHEESH! Also, I plan on releasing a few demos of my games soon, if any of you are interested in playing them. One of the games I'm working on that I think all of you will be interested in is a SSB adventure game I have in the making. It probably has about 6 hours of game play on it, or more depending on how good you are. :)**

**Anyways, I need to start this chapter already! I carefully chose the three arcs 'cause, believe it or not they are ALL three very important. One is just gonna end faster than the others, so expect it to take precedence(sp?) over the others.**

**Thanks for reading so far, people! I'll speak more, or type more, at the end notes.**

**-Chapter XXXXXXV-**

**-Ghosts of a former foe-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

It was just as Sonic said. As the team passed the boundaries of the dead tropical world they were in they approached what could have been mistaken for a city. The area was made out of pink metal and decorated with a load of neon lights. The sky was blue and the landscape below was decorated with city lights.

"It's like a floating casino, sort of." Matt whistled as they stepped onto the structure.

"I guess." Sonic said, "I don't like casino worlds though! Just because I can curl up into a ball doesn't mean I ought to get tossed around by flippers, yeesh!"

"Am I gonna be too big for this place?" Bowser asked hopefully.

"Naw, you look to be about the right size." Ness replied, to the Koopa King's chagrin.

"Yoshi? (What shoudl we do now?)"

"Collect rings like we did before." Sonic answered the dino as he popped his fingers.

"Huzzah." The rest of the part cheered unenthusiastically.

"Oh, come on!" Sonic whined, "it'll actually be easy this time, as long as you watch out for Eggman's robot bugs and the ubiquitous spikes.

"I've had enough accupunturing(sp?) to last me a lifetime!" Bowser screamed.

"I don't see how you'll be of any use then." Sonic sighed. He kept walking forward until suddenly he heard a shout. "Oh NO! Not you!"

"Oh, SONIIIIIIIIIC!!!!" Amy squealed. She lunged out of nowhere and took the hedgehog completely by surprise, which allowed her to wrap her arms around his neck.

"Nice catch, Amy." Matt snickered. Sonic was completely immobilized by her grip, and all he could do was tap his foot impatiently.

"Amy, I've got places to be and things to do. It's too dangerous to keep following me around!"

_This isn't accomplishing anything._ Bowser thought, looking bored. _She isn't even paying attention right now._

Little pink hearts floated up into the air and popped. Amy was happy, seriously happy.

And that's when it happened. Everything was fine, albeit a little comical one moment, and the next everybody was about to have a heart attack.

There was a tunnel nearby that was blocked off with tall spikes, and unexpectedly there was a huge explosion that destroyed the spikes. A figure dashed out of the smoke at such a speed if you blinked you would have missed it. There was a metallic clang as the figure socked Sonic right in the head and sent him flying into a nearby wall. Amy gasped at first, and then was about to scream when the figure wrapped her against its chest with its arms.

"You!" Sonic shouted in surprise.

Metal Sonic emerged from the smoke with Amy trapped in his arms.

Matt was at a loss for words. He had witnessed the metal monster's death, and at his own hands, none the less. Yet here he was, good as new, although he seemed to have lost some of his newer look.

"Master wishes to say hello." Metal Sonic replied emotionlessly before taking off, leaving everybody behind to cover their eyes after he blew a bunch of dust into their faces.

"After him!" Sonic yelled desperately, taking off after his metal doppelganger at top speed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

_"If only you knew a thing about our universe's fate..." The Black Knight said in an ominous tone. "…My comrades and I…you will see us again."_

Those words echoed throughout Link's head as the team marched along the road. Everywhere he looked, there were laguz warriors all around him and his group. A glance to his right revealed Ike walking confidently but his eyes seemed to be looking at something else, far far away. Samus walked to Link's left, and every once in a while her laughter could be heard from inside. Apparently the people around them thought she was insane or something, and she was scary enought to them already.

_Knowing her she's probably watching a cartoon or something in her visor, or reading something funny that she just scanned._ Link thought while smiling. Unfortunately, the rest of the team was earning strange looks from the army around them. Luigi was openly laughed at for acting like a chicken, Fox was treated with even more hostility for resmembling the laguz, and at the same time being completely different. They shoved Lyon around, who didn't seem to care about anything after revealing his deepest secrets. He just walked with his head hung low so nobody could see his grief.

For some reason nobody messed with Link, though. They might have sensed some of Ike's power in him. They were too scared to attack Samus openly, though they might give it a try if they had the chance. The Gallian royalty may have respected the beorc in Crimea, but the soldiers and the common folk didn't all share that view yet, and it didn't help that there were six complete strangers in their midst.

Suddenly a fight broke out behind Link. Roy was dancing and he accidentally tripped a few laguz soldiers. They weren't harmed, they just flipped and landed right on their feet. They let out an angry growl, and the bigger soldier, presumably a tiger, hissed out a threat.

"You'll regreat that, human." He said before he pounced. He changed into a tiger in midair and threw the poor swordsman into the dirt. The soldier's partner shifted into a cat and jumped after him. By now Roy was screaming in fear. As far as he knew, he was being attacked for no reason.

"Oh, ****." Ike cursed. He drew his sword and charged straight into the fray. He attempted to knock the tiger out with the flat of his blade, but the cat knocked his legs out from under him and tripped him.

"HALT!" Samus warned. A few other soldiers joined in the fray, beorc-haters. Samus clearly tutted, and then said, "I warned you idiots!" before she unleashed a fully charged plasma beam. It instantly burned the hair off a few of the soldiers in the fight, and incapacitated one. By now she had attracted the attention of some of the other brawlers, and she was forced on the defensive.

"Get Ranulf!" Ike roared to Lyon, who nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Oh no you don't!" A soldier shouted before throwing a fist into the magic user's face.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Luigi screamed as he jumped into a tree.

"That's it." Link said, furious, "Nobody hurts my friends!" He crouched over on his knees as a cloud of darkness covered his body, and after it faded away it revealed Link in his wolf form. This completely took the laguz by surprise, since they thought he was just a beorc swordsman. Thing was, that's just what he was expect that he was partly cursed.

Wolf Link jumped at the Tiger that just punched Lyon in the face and nearly tore his arm off. After he let go he jumped back up and knocked the laguz out with a heavy hit from his paw. Ike took the chance to get back up and managed to send two of the fighters into unconciousness with his sword. Samus sent three more flying with her missiles.

"ENOOOOOOOOOOOUGH!" Ranulf roared as he stepped into the clearing. He shoved a few people completely over as he stepped into the ring. He stomped over to the instigator and picked him up by the scruff of the neck. "What were you fools thinking!? You are a disgrace to our race! What business do you have attacking a clinically insane man!? Oh, I heard the whole thing! I know what went on."

"He tripped me." The soldier replied, as if that justified everything.

"That changes nothing. You attacked a man with the mental capacity of a four year old, and then went on to attack unprepared allies, and my friends at that! They gave you the chance to quit but you had to keep going! I know war has you all hyped up, but this is no excuse! I'm taking you and your friends off the frontlines. If you can waste your time acting like traitors and attacking probably the best warriors out of our whole army, you can spend the rest of your time on cleaning duty!"

"He ripped my arm." The other tiger said, pointing at Link.

"...Who is he?" Ranulf asked as Link shifted back. "Wait...You're not laguz at all! How did you do that?"

"Long story." Link said, before turning to the soldier, "You just punched my friend, and he didn't even do anything. Consider it your just punishment."

"Thanks, Link." Lyon groaned as the hylian knight helped him off the ground, "I'm so bloody useless I couldn't even get help."

"You're far from useless." Link assured him as Ranulf lead the rowdy soldiers away. "You just need the chance to show these people you have more guts than them. I don't care what you think, if you're willing to come back to fix what you've messed up, and then go back instead of staying with your friends, I'd have a hard time making that choice."

"It doesn't change anything." Lyon said, "It's my punishment, not my choice. Fate has a way of taking things away from you a second time. I'm not going to lie to myself, I wouldn't be happy staying here." He gently pushed Link's arm off, and then walked out of the ring, off toward where Ranulf went.

After a while Ranulf inched his way back in the lines once everybody resumed their march. Link and Samus kept Roy close, and glared at anybody besides Fox and Luigi that walked by. Roy was still shaking, and completely rendered speechless.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Ranulf apologized once he had the chance. "I hate that I had to drag you into this too."

"It's our job to resolve problems like this." Link replied, "Lead the way, and my sword will follow Ike's. Is that good enough?"

"More than enough." Ranulf smiled, pleased. "I came back here to tell you, we're going to camp soon. I trust you know what my tent looks like?"

"Yeah." Samus replied.

"We're going to have a meeting. Soren, Ike's tactician, is going to help us plan our next attack. Sometime in the next two days, we'll be attacking the senator's armies just north of here."

"As long as my own allies don't decide to kill me first!" Fox shouted from nearby.

"You really do need to do something." Link said, "I haven't seen Lyon since the fight, Luigi is scared stiff as a board, and I haven't seen Ike so furious. He's the last man I'd want to make mad here."

"I agree." Ranulf answered seriously, "What happened today was a disgrace. If we didn't need every able bodied laguz we have here, I'd have sent those soldiers home to prison."

"You could just let Samus beat the snot out of them." Link suggested.

"That wouldn't help anything." Ranulf said, "I'll handle that part. Actually, Skrimir already handled that."

"What'd he do?" Samus asked.

Ranulf didn't even answer directly, but it was clear enough. "Their bones will heal in a few days. Anyways, don't worry about it. You just stay in Ike's camp like you've been doing, and make sure you come to the meeting tomorrow. You can't miss out on Soren's planning. I tell you, that mage is a genius."

Ranulf slinked away and headed back, presumably, to his position at the lead of the army where Skrimir was, and left the Smashers in the middle of the gathering darkness, out in the middle of strange lands.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sheik and Dr. Mario emerged from a hole in the ceiling after the sheikah kicked the grate out. She dropped into the room like a lithe cat burglar, while her friend fell on his butt.

"Ow." Dr. Mario mumbled, rubbing his tush.

"Shh." Sheik urged. She got up from her crouch and strolled around the room. They were in what looked the the central security control room, but there was nobody inside. "That's odd. Shouldn't there be a few men in here keeping an eye on the cameras?"

"So we're in a security room?" Dr. Mario asked, "That IS odd."

"I don't see anybody else on the cameras, except for our friends down on the first floor." Sheik said, pointing to one of the monitors. They watched as Paul and Falco pulled a dizzy looking Midna from a crate. Falco tripped and fell over backwards with an inaudible squawk, and the two had a chuckle at their friend's expense.

"They all look ok, but where's the prisoners?" Dr. Mario asked.

"Don't look like they have any cameras in the detention block." Sheik mused. "I guess we do this the old fashioned way then."'

"That sounds like fun!" Dr. Mario replied in a voice heavy on sarcasm.

"Don't be like that, doc." Sheik said. She slinked over to the entrance of the room, which she found was locked. She stepped back and drew her whip, and with a powerful swing the blue coil shot forward and split into nine different ends, all with the sharpness of a blessed sword. The endings pierced the door with ease, and with a mental command the ends grabbed the door in different places. She yanked back witrh all of her might and pulled the door clean out of the wall. She and Dr. Mario dove out of the way as the door sailed past and collided into the security monitors. They exploded in a huge cacophany of crackling and popping.

"We can always apologize later." Sheik said. She was probably smiling underneath those bandages of hers. She took off out of the room and Dr. Mario followed as his legs allowed him, which wasn't that close since the gap between the two grew wider every second.

"I should exercise more." Dr. Mario panted. "Since there's probably nobody here but our team, I think stinky bombing them is a useless move."

"I couldn't agree more. I wonder why all those folks left? I'd have thought they would want to protect their prisoners more."

"Me too." Dr. Mario agreed. They kept running down a few hallways, taking turns when necessary, and after a minute or so they came across a locked off area. Another swing from Sheik's Hydra whip later and the door was removed forcefully. Behind it were a series of cells, just what the duo was looking for.

"...Hello?" Sheik called out tentatively, "...If there's somebody in here, speak up if you can. We're here to get you out of this place."

"...Zelda? Is that you?" Somebody asked weakly.

"Peach." Dr. Mario gasped. He dashed into the room and found the cell in a heartbeat. "Thank goodness you are alright! We've missed you."

"Dr. Mario?" Peach asked. She looked like she had seen better days. She was really pale, and a tad sickly looking. She could use a bath.

"They wouldn't let me take care of myself." Peach laughed pathetically, "Is Zelda with you?"

"Something like that." Sheik answered, stepping into the princess' view.

"Sheik? Could you revert, please...I want to see Zelda again."

"'Fraid I can't. I'll explain THAT later. First we have to get you out of here." Sheik said, preparing her whip again.

"And please save Mario and Toadsworth." Peach begged, "They're still here somewhere."

"Good." Dr. Mario said, "I'll go find them."

"Stand back." Sheik warned. Peach backed up to the rear of her cell while Sheik prepared her weapon, then she cracked it forward and sliced a few of the bars completely off. The Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom crawled out of the hole, and the sheikah warrior helped her back to her feet.

"Thanks." Peach said.

"No problem." Sheik replied.

Dr. Mario didn't find Mario until he reached the end of the block. He was with Toadsworth. The poor plumber was still in his bunny form, and the two were huddled close together for warmth. The Mushroom Kingdom's steward clutched a stump caked with blood, a stump that used to be his entire right arm. Compassion instantly filled Dr. Mario's heart, and before he knew what he was doing he drew his knife.

"Doc, I don't think that's such a good-" Sheik started saying, when he hauled back and slashed clean through the cell's lock, breaking his surgical knife in the process. "That's a heck of an arm you have there." Sheik said, surprised.

"I think I broke a finger." Dr. Mario chuckled painfully. "Come on, you two. Can you walk?"

"Mamma Mia!" Mario said, nodding his head just in case.

"I really need to have something done about my arm." Toadsworth said, "I might end up getting it amputated, I can't feel below my elbow anymore."

Dr. Mario winced, and took his wounded arm gently while Mario supported him on his other side.

_How can he hold up under such a wound? _Dr. Mario couldn't help but wonder. _Most people would have succumbed...He must be in so much pain._

_Pain._

For some reason the word rang throughout his being. He couldn't rest until he healed this man.

Before he knew it, his hands were glowing with white light. He didn't notice it until he started squinting, and then he thought, _Why am I squinting all of a sudden?_

"Doc! Your hands!" Peach gasped.

"Hmm?" Dr. Mario asked. He turned his head toward Peach and then his peripheral vison caught the glow. It was definitely his hands. Now that he was actually looking at them, they felt very light and his right hand didn't hurt anymore. He flexed his hand and found that his finger was no longer broken. "I can't believe it!" He murmured, looking at his hand. He could still feel the power building in his hands, and then it hit him: It was his true power!

He started laughing like a man that went to heaven. "With this..." He started saying, but he let the thought trail off into thin air. Words were not what his friends needed, they needed action. He grasped Toadsworth's arm gently but firmly, and the glow intensified. After it dimmed back down somewhat Toadsworth looked good as new, and he had his arm back. He didn't stop there. He gently tapped Mario on the shoulder, who then started glowing. The glow encompassed his whole body and a black silhouete appeared. It shifted like a bubble of ink and changed into Mario's normal shape, and just as suddenly as it happened, the light faded away.

Mario's body was suspened in midair, and when the light faded he fell to the ground clumsily.

"Ha ha!" He laughed, "I'm-a back!"

"Dr. Mario, you just-" Toadsworth started saying before the doc silence him.

"I was granted this power, why, I don't know, but I know what I must do with it." Dr. Mario said, "I may not be a fighter, but this family of fighters needs my help all the same. Let's leave this place as soon as possible...I have a forboding feeling that something is going to happen."

"You have a point about the escaping, Doc." Sheik said, "Give me a moment, and I'll try teleporting us down to the rest of the group. She closed her eyes and focused her energy while the other four huddled around her, and as soon as she had enough power they dissapeared in the middle of an explosion.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Whoa, what happened?" Midna asked, holding her head.

"I think you fell into unconciousness after they choked you." Jun said, leaning into the imp's face.

"I remember being caught in the chokehold...Grr...That man must have knocked me out somehow. It was really sudden." Midna hissed. "I don't remember slowly fading out, you know what I mean?"

"Absolutely." Pit said.

"How's the nag doing?" Falco's voice was heard.

"Good enough to hear you complaining about me!" Midna yelled.

"You idiot." Kirby said.

"Falco's probably worried about her." Sora said, giving the avian pilot a sly smile.

"What, me!?" Falco asked, sounding shocked, "You outta your mind?"

"Me, no...You, i'm not so sure about." Paul replied with a funny look involving his right eyebrow being raised.

"Heh heh..." Midna chuckled, "Ok, that's enough. What's going on now? Are we finished battling?"

"I think so." Fina said, "We haven't seen anybody around here in awhile. We may be the only ones here."

"Seriously?" Midna asked, looking suspicious. "They had high priority prisoners here. Why leave them unattended when we're here...?"

"...Unless if one of the big cheeses is coming here himself!" Sora gasped, "What should we do?"

"What else, Sora?" Paul asked, "Sound the retreat!"

BAAAAAAAAAANG!!!

"YIKES!" Falco screamed. Sheik, Peach, Mario, Dr. Mario, and Toadsworth all dropped out of the air nearby and landed on the pile of boxes where Midna was stashed a few minutes before.

"Whoops, I think I missed the floor by a few feet." Sheik whistled.

"I'll say!" Pit said, wide eyed.

"Watch what you're trying to do!" Midna said, "Next time, try not to drop in on us like that!"

"My bad." Sheik chuckled.

"We need to get out of here." Kirby said, "We think one of GUN's big generals may be on their way, and-What, since when did you return to normal, Mario!?"

"Ask-a my clone here. He'll tell-a you when we get a chance." Mario shrugged. "He said just as much. He has a bad feeling-a that somebody is coming."

"All the more reason to get out of here." Lyn said. "We didn't come here to battle one of their generals."

"Ok, people. Let's move it!" Midna shouted.

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"That time is coming." One person said.

"I hate to have caused them so much worry, but it had to be this way."

"We did what we had to do. They wouldn't have been able to handle that one job..."

"We failed that part though. Somebody else already stole the Heart of Chaos."

"It was Sephiroth."

"I know I know...I don't even know why he's here. It seems every able bodied villain is headed this way. The way I see things, everything can only go downhill from here."

"I wouldn't be so negative. Dr. Mario just unlocked his inner power. I knew he would do it soon."

"Yes, but _he's_ headed here."

"Well, that's why WE'RE here, right!?"

"Yes...I'm getting to be a worrywart in my old age, heh..."

"I'm almost as old as you are, and I don't even look or act like it. You're just too bent on being worried."

"...Do you think I should see a psychiatrist?"

"No. You just need to lighten up, be more optimistic!"

"I'll try."

"Nope, you will."

"The Smashers need to prove themselves...But we can't pamper them any longer. That decision helped me to leave them."

"I agree. They're a fantastic band of fighters. I don't think you could have chosen a better time to create the Super Smash Brothers."

"I just had that feeling, now was the time to do it."

"It was in time, too. Look at this mess..."

"Yes...I can no longer pamper them. They have to see their enemies for what they really are, and they must see each other for what THEY really are as well. They are doing better, but they still have a ways to go."

"...Yes, it is best this way..."

"...Hmm..."

"...It's time, isn't it?"

"Yes, I fear it is. You better be ready. I don't think we can win this next fight."

"That's not the point. If things go as planned, this will be a complete win for us."

"I hope you're right..."

"I always am! Um...Scratch that, most of the time, heh heh..."

"I just hope Crazy Hand is doing well."

"I'm sure he is. I think we'd have felt it, if he...well, you know..."

"...I hope never to feel that sensation again. I don't think I would survive it."

"...Let's do this, Master Hand."

"I'm right with you, Cress..."

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"Keep going. We're almost back to the ship." Lyn announced.

"Is it just me, or is it starting to feel a little...strange, in here?" Paul asked with a strange expression.

"It feels like static electricity." Jun said, "What could it mean?"

They continued running, but the feeling only grew and grew.

Suddenly, Falco's eyes shot wide and he shouted, "INCOMING!"

The team threw themselves to the floor in the middle of a large room, just as a humongous blue beam of energy ripped through the wall and shot overhead. It lingered in midair for a few moments before fading away, but the static sensation didn't go away.

"I see you haven't been slacking. I'd have been dissapointed if that hit you."

"That voice-!" Kirby said.

"It's as we feared..." Paul gasped.

"...Dhaos." Mario said, striking a battle position.

Dhaos, the lord of Chaos, floated right in through the hole he had created in the wall, and landed just twenty feet away from the party.

"Trying to escape with my contraband?" Dhaos asked imperilously, "I don't think so..."

"Contraband!?" Pit shouted, "My friends are not trading objects. You can't take them away."

"Just try and stop me." Dhaos said simply as he cracked his neck, "I'm going to enjoy this. Mario, this wasn't personal until you meddled in affairs that weren't even yours. You got in my way, and now i'm about to take you out of it...Forever."

"I-a beat-a you once! I can-a do it again-a!" Mario said.

"You aren't prepared." Dhaos grinned maliciously, "You aren't wearing your Jet Boots or your Winged Cap."

"..."

"Face it, Smashers!" Dhaos shouted, "You should have blown off that old hand! The price for getting stuck in his affairs is death! It's all that has ever happend to those that joined him to fight against evil!"

"I refuse to believe that." Peach said with determination, "We knew we would risk our lives doing this. It is all we have always done in the name of stopping evil. This is no different than any over time. We will prevail!"

"I find your body odor offensive to me. Go take a bath, Princess." Dhaos growled, "...Oh, right. Do you need an hour or two? I could wait a little bit longer to kill you. I can be patient when I need to. I wouldn't want you to die in such a pitiful condition!" He laughed as Peach turned an unconfortable shade of red.

"Nobody offends her." Sora said, "We're going to take you down, just like we did last time!"

"Any last requests before I kill all of you?" Dhaos asked idly, "...No? Then, prepare yourselves, mortals, and face me!"

"Why do I always get caught in these situations?" Kirby asked as he drew his Star Rod.

Mario ran straight up to the king of evil and jumped high into the air with his fist aimed down. Sheik rushed at Dhaos from behind and attempted to restrain him with her whip but he held out his hand, caught the whip, and catapulted her straight into Mario. They slammed into each other with a thunderous crack, and slammed into the ceiling about a hundred feet away. Then, he went on the offensive. Mario and Sheik got back to their feet just as Lyndis engaged Dhaos in close combat. Steel met bone as she and the king of evil went head to toe. Dhaos blocked and countered each strike with just his bare hands, managing to minimize damage. Every second, one out of five hits from Dhaos pelted Lyn, no matter how hard she blocked or how fast she struck. She never landed a single decent hit. Paul jumped in to block and especially powerful kick that would have knocked Lyn out, and the recoil from the defensive maneuver allowed Falco to unleash a stream of laser blasts from his Prism Blaster.

In the short lapse of time, Dr. Mario administered aid to Lyn with one of his super pills, restoring her back to fighting form. Dhaos growled in annoyance as he single handedly deflected all of Falco's shots and waited until after his gun overheated before launching his own attack. He opened up a mini wormhole and threw a judo kick into it. Falco squawked when his foot shot out of thin air and smashed into his head. While stars were still fresh in his vision, Dhaos fired a ball of blue plasma from his hands and knocked the pilot out. Falco's unconcious body hit the pavement with a thwack.

Jun jumped over Falco and shouted, "Flare Drive!" before shooting a trio of flaming rings from her hands. They hit Dhaos and started spinning around him before imprisoning him on the spot. Midna added a bit of her own orange lightning to the mix. Lyn, Paul, Kirby, Sheik, and Mario closed in and started beating the tar out of Dhaos while Pit charged up an especially powerful attack he had just devised. When he was ready, he shouted, "Stand back!"

Everybody dived to the side as he released a swarm of light arrows from his bow, almost all at once. They rose into the air and then fell upon Dhaos. Before they hit him they spun around him in circles and formed a glowing ball of light, all the while closing in on him. In the middle of the attack Dhaos broke free of his bonds effortlessly and exuded a black aura that turned the bluish-white arrows completely blood red.

"Take this!" Dhaos said. He thrust his hand forward as the arrows formed a ring around his body, and as they spun around him they split from the ring and started bombarding the smashers, creating gigantic explosions of chaotic energy every time they collided with a hero or an inanimate object. Kirby activated his Missile ability and flew through the storm of hostile projectiles, and just when he cleared the worst of it he went straight on a collision course with Dhaos himself. He smirked when he looked up and saw the inbound missile, and released all the rest of his chaos arrows at once. They formed a titanic ring of red energy. Kirby tried flying out of the way but it was too late. He flew straight into the wall and screamed as red lightning coursed through his body, followed by an earsplitting explosion. His charred and KO'd body went sailing past the rest of the team as they tried jumping over the wall, and when they landed Kirby slammed into a wall and didn't move for the rest of the fight.

"Mario!" Paul shouted, "Lend me your power!"

"I got it!" Mario called back. Just as Dhaos started charging up a laser atack, the duo stood together and twirled as fire enveloped both of them. Paul thrust his sword forward and Mario thrust his right palm, and all of the fire gathered just between the two points. "Fiery Dragon!" They shouted in unison as the fire gave off a beastly roar and fired off. It quickly formed into the shape of a glittering red dragon head as it headed towards it target, and then Dhaos fired off his laser. He held both of his hands together with his wrists touching one another and his palms outward, and a gigantic ray of blue light erupted from his hand. It hit the dragon and destroyed the attack in a bright explosion, and then continued on to the mageknight and the plumber. Pit tried blocking with his shield, which wouldn't have worked anyways. Sheik saved them in the nick of time by grabbing them as she ran past at high speed. The beam just barely missed them and swallowed up a good portion of the wall where they were standing. Now there was two gigantic holes in the room.

"Bravo!" Dhaos cheered, "You've managed to live a tad longer than I expected. I think it's time to step it up a notch."

"He's been playing with us this whole time." Midna murmured in fear as the room darkened after the evil king started gathering power.

"Nah, duh." Paul couldn't help but reply sarcastically. "There's no way we can win this."

"Distract him while I gather energy to get us out of here." Midna requested urgently.

"We'll do what we can." Sheik promised.

"Get him!" Sora said. He summoned his Ultima Keyblade as his friend summoned the Excalibur form of Iridescence. "ULTIMA!"

A sphere of pure energy surrounded Dhaos as he focused energy. It collapsed on him and then exploded outward suddenly in conjunction with the sound of an uncanny bell ring. Fina fired an intense pulse of lighting from her palm and earne dthe same effect. The pulse skipped off to the side and punched another hole in the already unstable walls and created another bell ring. By now there was an easily visible sphere of red energy around the king of evil, and there was a growing sensation of everybody's hair standing on end.

"It's incredible..." Sora said. By now, Mario, Lyn, Sheik, Paul, Pit, Jun, and even Peach, who had summoned her Dreamcatcher once more, were beating away on the dome surrounding Dhaos.

"He's holding the Heart of Chaos!" Jun shouted over the growing rumble. A look out of the holes revealed the sky turning deep red and the clouds black. Lightning coursed through the sky with every hit the smashers landed on Dhaos' shield, and the ground shook harder and harder as his power grew. Each hit made the bubble ripple as if it were made of water. No matter how hard they hit with their weapons or fists, nothing could pierce the veil of chaos around the evil king, and every spell that was cast, no matter its magnitude and power, were deflected with an eerie chime. Eventually the team retreated backwards, worn out from their futile attacks.

"It just isn't-a working..." Mario moaned.

"Here he comes." Fina said. Dhaos suddenly released the dome of red energy and it quickly exploded outward. It blew everybody off their feet with a crash, but didn't do any significant damage to the room around them.

"Oblivion!" Dhaos cried. He dashed forward at incredible speed and caught Mario and Sora in a bubble of distorted time. They instantly froze, stopped in their tracks. Dhaos stopped in front of them and hit them with a punch that exploded, then threw another punch, and kept going faster and faster until he chained his punches together a such a rapid pace the the explosions blended into one continuous onslaught of fire. He stopped after awhile and a huge cloud of red runes appeared in thin air and descended on the two before exploding in a blinding flash. Mario and Sora were instantly defeated by the attack, and propelled into the first wall they came to. Lyn tried attacking him from behind but a spear of red lightning erupted from the aura around his body and pierced her. While she was still convulsing from the shock, the aura pulled back and made a wall reminiscint of the shockwave that defeated Kirby. It spun around him once and smashed into Lyn before she could recover and sent her flying to another part of the room.

After that he spun and released a cloud of red balls of light that started chasing everybody around. Pit and Peach managed to reflect two of them at the same time right back at their creator. He just smirked at this and kicked them back with a rounhouse kick. They went back so fast, it was as if a red beam emitted from his foot and knocked both of them out. Now just Paul, Jun, Sheik, Dr. Mario, and Midna were standing.

Paul bravely charged the king with his blade drawn out. As the distance closed, Paul charged his sword up with a tremendous amout of wind energy. Dhaos stopped that after he dashed over to the mageknight and pummeled him into unconciousness with his fists before finally kicking him away. He stopped spinning after one rotation and made a slashing movement with his right hand, which resulted in him firing a green aura from his hand shaped like a teardrop. It rocketed into Dr. Mario and blew him into the air while tornados spawned from the spot where he was struck. The tornados, a result of the energy Dhaos just stole from Paul, melded together to form one violent twister that carried Dr. Mario clean up to the ceiling where it battered him against the solid surface relentlessly before tossing him for a straight one hundred foot fall to the pavement.

Jun fired a cloud of embers from her hand again to obstruct Dhaos' view before firing more rings from her other hand. Dhaos sidestepped the rings and endured the flames until she teleported right at him. He sidestepped once more and grabbed her sword arm and threw her straight at Sheik. Sheik reflexively flipped out of the way before Jun crashed into her. Then she threw three kunai straight at Dhaos' head. He swatted them aside with ease. Next, she teleported straight at him and prepared to crack her whip at super speed. He teleported at the same time and caught her in space just between the two points, and jumped out of a wormhole up near the ceiling.

"Sayonara." Dhaos said, clutching her by the throat. He let go and watched her face as he charged up a quick blast of red energy. Her horror was shortlived, as the beam smacked her and propelled her straight into the ground. She hit the ground with a crash that left behind a crater and kicked rubble up into the air, and after that it was all quiet.

Dhaos very lightly lowered himself to the ground and landed with the force of a feather, and slowly strode over to Midna. She was still charging energy for the teleport, but it was a futile move.

She just finished her last bit when Dhaos kicked aside a stone. It clattered to her feet, or below her since she was free-floating, and she opened her eyes with a gasp. He was just thirty feet away, and with a guy of his evil and calibur, just a mile was too close.

"You're next." Dhaos said simply. He aimed his palm and fired a blue laser at her.

She released her orange lightning and just a split second before the beam hit her, she and her allies dissipated into what looked like black pixels as a blue-green wormhole up above teleported the smashers back to their base.

"...I missed." He said simply as he watched them vanish. For some reason...He just couldn't bring himself to hurry. Why did he hesitate? He was just playing around with them...And yet, when the time came, he could easily have finished them off.

"I missed." He echoed his own words.

"Yeah, you missed alright, you idiot." a voice said from behind him. He turned to face Cress Albane and Master Hand, who were poised for battle.

"You stand as much of a chance defeating me now as they did." Dhaos chuckled sinisterly as his red aura strengthened once more. "My power has matured, far beyond what any of you could hope to reach. And as the host for the Heart of Chaos' power, my strength can only continue to grow!"

"Hasn't ever stopped us before." Master Hand answered bravely.

"Aegis Strike!" Cress cried. He pulled for swords out of his...inventory, and threw them into the four corners of the room. Each time a sword landed it stuck in the ground, hilt up, and emitted a blue glow before completely transforming into pure energy. The four blue shields combined to seal the area off with a blue glow.

"You can't imprison me anywhere." Dhaos laughed, "You can't hold me here!"

"We're just gonna rough you up a little and remind you that you aren't invincible, that's all." Cress replied lightly as he pulled out his green beam saber, the Chaos Breaker. Master Hand clenched himself and then unclenched.

There, in that destroyed army base, began one of the fiercest battles between good and evil the world had seen.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Pretty large update here, but definitely not my longest. By the time this story gets to be as long as Supremacy, chapter wise, it will most likely be double in length, or close to it. Only time will tell.**

**I don't feel like writing long notes today, but I appreciate all of your sympathy, my readers. It's not an easy thing to lose a grandparent...But it's not gonna end the world.**

**Thanks for reading! Today was a serious chapter, and i'm sure it left you all some things to think about regarding my story. I really enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you did as well! That was the end of the Fort Saradin Arc, but not the end of the Smasher's adventures. The other two arcs are far from finished, and there are still many surprises, jokes, and drama still in store for you. I hope you'll stick around for the next update!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Thanks for reviewing! (The chapter before! Please review this one too if you have stuff to say, like criticism and stuff. Praise is cool too.)**

**-Shining Riku-**


	66. Chaos Amidst Collisions

**Paul: Heh heh. I'm lazy. By the time this gets out, I'll probably have more than two reviews. Meh, whatever! I ain't updating my notes. So, how was last chapter!? I was going for intense...**

**I had to get a point across. Dhaos' power only continues to grow each time the smashers battle him. This time, he picked them off with ease. He was just messing with them, and manipulating their own attacks!**

**Samus: Can we get on with my part of the story now? I need my body to be healed and Roy needs to get his mind back before I shoot him.**

**Roy: Blargh.**

**Samus: See? He's drooling on my shoulder...wait a sec, oh shoot-!"**

**BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTT!!!**

**Paul: Ok, I have no idea why Roy's spit shorted her suit out when it's normally water-proof, or spit-proof in this case...Anyways, the FE arc will finally start picking up this chapter if it hasn't already, and Sonic's arc is only gonna speed up from here on out. I'm cutting out some of the useless level-running, so expect to see more twists than aimless running around.**

**Roy: (Holds out a pink puffball with googly eyes) Look at my new pet! His name is Mr. Boffers! Isn't he cute?**

**Link: Where the **** did you get that!?**

**Roy: Don't talk about my new pet like that! (Eyes start welling up with tears)**

**Fox: Please, somebody heal his mind...**

**Paul: It'll be ok, Roy. All will be better soon. (Good question, Link. I'd like to know what it is too.)**

**Link: Before this insanity starts getting out of hand, let's start with a tiny bit more behind-da scenes stuff you fans of Supremacy might appreciate.**

**Paul: Please. Let's go already! I'm gonna go ahead and do a quick and cheesy disclaimer really quick, just to say I did one, and then we'll resume the story. Shining Riku owns only his OC's and some of the plot of this story, since some of it is deriviative of video games such as FE Radiant Dawn, Sonic CD, and Sonic Adventure 2. You get the pic. All other OC's belong to their respective owners, and all non-OCs and realated material and owned by their respective companies.**

**There. HAPPY!?**

**-Chapter XXXXXXVI-**

**-Chaos Amidst Collisions-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"...Master, they have stopped fighting."

The scene was set in a lab-like environment, a slightly old fashioned one at that. The walls were made of dark panneled wood aligned vertically along a horizontal board about two feet off the ground. The wall below the board appeared to be a single flawless wooden board of an even darker color that the wood above it. The ceiling was pale yellow in the light cast by the bare lightbulbs hanging from the naked electrical sockets. Below the yellow lights lay a series of tables decorated with a variety of useless glass vials and tubes that were inter-connected to create what looked like a scientific experiment. It could have been straight out of a movie or something dumb like that.

Except it wasn't a movie.

A man wearing light red armor and a brown undersuit approached another man that was wearing a black magician's robe. He had a flowing maroon cape that hung from his shoulders, and on his left shoulder was a light blue shoulder plate decorated with what looked to be golden lace. The man's face was rather gaunt with a handsome, but mature chin. His hair was a deep and dark grey color with a touch of navy blue to it, and he had two very thin strips of moustache that didn't meet underneath his nose.

"Yes, Antonio?" The man asked, turning his attention to his subordinate.

"The battle has ended between Lord Dhaos and Lords Cress and Master Hand." Antonio Vesuvius Magma reiterated. He had survived his battle with Hector of Ostia, in the previous war against darkness.

"It was a tie, was it not?" Antonio's master guessed.

"It was, Master. Neither side unleashed their full power. They both understand that a battle of that calibur would disrupt our planet, which still happens to be unstable after being restored.

"Thank goodness I no longer owe that man, Dhaos, any favors." the master shuddered, "He carelessly tossed you, my prize creations, around as useless tools."

"I beg to differ, Master." Antonio replied with a roll of his eyes, "I was a normal human, a Guinea pig for your experiment."

"A willing guinea pig." the master said, shaking a finger, "...And you turned out well. All my other experiments took on the personality of the elements of which they represented, but you...You turned out just fine. You were a hot-headed idiot before my experiment, but afterwards you gained the wisdom and sagacity of an Archsage."

"I do try my best to be an exemplary man, m'lord." Antonio answered.

"It must be that your Earth powers are predominant." the master said, musing, "Unfortunately for your three counterparts, none of their elements were compatible with their human natures...Water's peace was wasted on Anna, she was already a warmonger before I gave her the powers of ice and water. Excer was also a contemptible donkey's rear end from the beginning.

"They were morphs. What else could you expect from those two?" Antonio said.

"I was surprised at your fiancee's transformation, though..." the master said. His name happened to be Aisen...Aisen Vasquarez. "She was such a petite little thing, but after the infusion...! Turned downright fiesty and prideful, she did."

"Master Aisen, may we please talk about the topic on hand?" Antonio asked with the slightest twinge of annoyance. Working for a genius had its perks, but one of the cons was usually that the boss in question had a way of getting on people's nerves. Aisen was a scatterbrain.

"Yes...I am sorry, Magma." Aisen said, shaking his head, "I went off on another of my musing tangents. Yes...I have almost finished extracting Excer's and Anna's conciousness from the ether, and I have two more suitable bodies for their use."

"Master, why must you use morphs? It is an evil practice for a reason." Antonio said.

"Evil?" Aisen asked, shocked, "I've never stolen the quintessence from another living being my whole life! You know that. I've only ever used my own."

"They're...abominations." Antonio sighed.

"After Serena finishes her work below, the second infusion should be prepared." Aisen said, "Good thing she came back alive...after awhile she just up and dissapeared! I was so worried."

"I was worried too...But I could do without her attitude." Antonio said, "...Master, what is your opinion regarding the Smashers?"

"The Smashers? Some of them are a rowdy bunch, yes, but they're all good at heart." Aisen said while inspecting some of his chemicals.

"...Since you most likely don't need me here at the lab, I was thinking of helping them out." Antonio mumbled.

"What!? Since when have I never needed you here, my boy? Have I somehow mistreated you, have I caused you grief?"

"No, it is not that." Antonio said, "Deep down in my heart, I share the same ideals these freedom fighters are willing to protect. I'd be honored if you let me join them."

"Bah! They'd probably kill you!" Aisen barked, turning his back on his "assistant". "You didn't exactly wave any friendly flags at them during their struggles now, did you? You'd be wasting your talents."

"I'm wasting my talents here, right now, to be frank." Antonio said, stubbornly.

"I see how it is." Aisen said. "It's your inner fire. It burns for battle, does it not? You can't hide it behind that stony face of yours, that impassive granite."

"...That's part of it, yess." Antonio admitted. "But most of my reason is, if it wasn't for that one favor you owed Dhaos, we probably would have sided with Master Hand, am I right?"

"...Yes, you are right." Aisen finally gave in, "I would have sided with the old glove, indeed. You have my official permission to leave. If you do something stupid and get yourself killed, i'll know. I'll bring you back long enough to flog some sense into that stubborn skull of yours."

"I won't let you down, Master!" Antonio replied, with a little bit more enthusiasam. "First, I must locate Hector...He'll be my only chance, my ticket in, should I say."

"Don't be so eager to dismiss Ness or Mewtwo." Aisen reminded him, "They can read your mind, and learn the truth."

"I forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me." Antonio said, bowing. "I shall try Hector first...The two times I fought against the Smashers, He was there, both times. I feel that he will understand me."

"Very well. Find Ness or Mewtwo if that fails." Aisen said.

"I shall. Wish me luck, Master." Antonio requested as he took his leave. He exited the room from a thin door to the side of the room. Aisen released an audible sigh just as another door opened oposite the door Antonio just exited. Serena Thundara Lumens, the Elemental of Light and Electricty, strode into the room.

"Boss!" She said, sounding annoyed, "I got your stupid stuff set up. Would you hurry up and come down already!? I'm tired of waiting on you!"

_I wish I didn't let Antonio leave now_. Aisen thought. _I forgot how much of a ***** Serena was. And it's only been half an hour that i've kept her waiting!_

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-The Smash Dimension, Smash Mansion-

"Come on." Meta Knight urged, "We've got work to do! We want this mansion repaired before the others get back!"

"What do we look like, those people that fix houses on that TV show!?" Ganondorf asked angrily as he lugged gigantic beams of wood around. His humor was lost on the star warrior, who merely continued staring at him. "Could you stop that please?" Ganon asked.

"Stop what?"

"Staring. It's making me nervous."

"Very well. I shall observe the rest of the team." Meta Knight said, shaking his head before he waddled off.

"Don't go freaking them out either!" Ganon shouted after their current leader. He sighed and continued lugging his burden over to the side of the mansion where a few of his fellow smashers were up on a high scaffold repairing the outter wall.

"Keep shootin' stuff up to me!" Spam shouted down to his snifit companion. The red-cloaked snifit in question, Snurckle, fired a package of nails up to his shy guy friend. The shy guy, Spam, snatched the box before gravity could take it away from him. He popped the box open and stuck a few nails in his mouth before preparing his hammer and then went to work. He tapped his hammer on the nails rapidly as he placed them on the plank he was fixing. Next to him Ephraim was doing the same, except that occasionally he smacked his thumb with the hammer and yelped.

"Could you quit doing that? You're distracting me." Spam mumbled. Ephraim shot him a dirty look before continuing his work, which resulted in him flattening his thumb a 20th time.

"Your wood's here!" Ganondorf announced, dropping the pile of boards to the ground with a clatter. The sudden noise scared both of the guys up on the scaffold and caused them to lose their balance. They flopped over the edge and managed to grab the ends of the platform before they fell and hurt themselves.

"You dork! We told you not to do that!" Ephraim shouted. He lost his grip because of his sore thumb and fell. Ganon caught him, and the prince jumped out of his arms and dusted himself off. "I'm going to go take a break before some certain somebody here gets me killed." Ephraim said with a huff as he stomped off.

"Yeesh." Ganon mumbled before leaving to get more wood.

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At the mansion's spaceport, the Halberd was in the docking bay being repaired.

Upon first landing there, Meta Knight set off to find more waddle dees to replace his diminished crew. Now the waddle dees were everywhere repairing and replacing broken parts on the ship while the whole operation was overviewed by Professor .

"No!" The tiny professor yelled when some waddle dees started pulling one of the fuel lines off the exposed innards of the ship, "That line was ok! Now you have to replace the whole network!"

Waddle dees couldn't talk, well, at least a good majority of them couldn't. They just stared at him and started replacing the fuel line.

"You need to stand up a little more, show them who's boss." Snake urged. He was lying on the ground near one of the ship's side thrusters repairing the damage that was inflicted when the ship was trying to escape from some of GUN's pilots.

"You! Get back to work!" E. Gad shouted.

"Right, right. I'm on it." Snake grumbled.

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-Back to Ganon and Spam-

Ganon was now on the scaffold with Spam, and together they were hammering the boards up quickly and accurately.

"Just a tad bit more 'o this and we're through!" Spam cheered.

"Yeah, I can't wait for my coffee break!" Ganon replied. He shared none of Ephraim's luck and succeeded in NOT smashing his thumbs.

Of course, we can't have none of that now, can we!?

A familiar wormhole opened up above the duo, level with the roof. A wad of unconcious bodies fell out of it towards the two, who looked up and panicked. Midna flew out of the hole in an attempt to freeze the body wad with her powers, but she took too long. Ganondorf got crushed and Spam was catapulted into the sky after the board was snapped in half. The Gerudo king provided a soft spot, or not so soft spot, for the wounded smashers to land on. Spam continued screaming until he landed on the roof.

Ephraim came out of a side door with a cup of coffee cradled in his hands, and when he heard the crash nearby he tossed his beverage into the air with a yelp and scalded himself. He ran back inside screaming like he was on fire, and acted as a siren of sorts to attract attention to the accident. Meta Knight reached the area first and saw all of the wounded smashers.

"Get the Waddle Dee army over here at once." Meta Knight ordered, "They go straight to the infirmary onboard the Halberd."

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-Collision Chaos-

Sonic dashed across the stage, chasing after his rival Metal Sonic. Matt, Ness, Pichu, and Yoshi followed up close, but Bowser was nowhere in sight now because he was so slow.

Metal Sonic glanced over his shoulder as he kept flying, and saw Sonic still close on his robotic tail. Sonic glared at him as if to say, "I'm still here!"

MS then sped up and created a barrier of lightning around his body. He punched a hole clean through a normally impassable wall, but the hole was above a gap...

Sonic leapt to jump through the hole but he lacked the speed and jump power to go through. He fell down and smacked into a bumper that launched him through a room filled with bubbles.

"Ow ow OW!" Sonic shouted as he rocketed through the bubbles. They weren't exactly bubbles in the traditional sense that they were fragile. These were a little harder, but could still be popped. It was like being stuck through a sphere made of plastic. The hedgehog landed on a ledge, a little bruised up but still alive. "Yikes. It isn't any softer a second time around, either!" He complained. Behind him, four other of his fellow smashers suffered the same experience. They landed next to him in a pile.

Sonic helped them up while Matt said, "So, he's escaped for now, hasn't he?"

"Yes, Metal Sonic managed to shake me off his tracks by going through that wall." Sonic said, "Why do you think he's back? This is all wrong!"

"My theory is, it must be some sort of time paradox." Matt replied, "Remember, you had already battled against GUN and stopped the ARC from falling on Earth. Why is it that that particular event was reset after the worlds were merged together? Other events must have been reset as well. It doesn't help that this planet has its own time separate from that of Ivalice. Put those two things together, and it may explain Metal Sonic's rebirth."

"I guess so." Sonic shrugged. Theory wasn't his forte. "Does that mean some of our other foes could be resurrected as well?"

"We'll just have to beat Metal Sonic down while he's still weak so we don't have to worry about him later." Matt said.

"Problem is we're handicapped too!" Ness said, "This planet reduced our power to about a tenth of what it was before."

"I can tell." Matt said, "Bowser could actually keep up with us back in the normal world."

"And now he's nowhere to be seen!" Sonic grunted with exasperation. "...We lost Metal Sonic, but I know where to find him..."

"Where at?" Ness asked.

"The Stardust Speedway." Sonic said determinedly, "We better gather as many Time Stones as we can in the short time that we have."

"Right." Matt said, "It's collect a hundred rings again, isn't it?"

"You bet it is!" Sonic said, giving him a thumbs up, "Let's do what we have to do, guys. We can do this!"

"Pichu!"

"And girl!" Sonic corrected himself.

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"Flaguerre, Mugill, and Telgam are ours. But this war has just started. The enemy's main force is in Sienne, the capital. The real fight starts now." Ranulf said as the group was gathered around a table. The table was decorated with a large map of the continent of Tellius, which the army was using to plan their movements.

Skrimir looked excited. "Ah, now we fight the big battle! My claws itch for beorc flesh." At this comment Luigi started shaking uncontrollably. "Hey, Ranulf! Are there strong enemies in the capital?"

"There will be plenty." Soren answered in Ranulf's stead. "Before we go, we must fight the northern nobles. Their collective army is massive." During the war discussions, Link and his team members kept themselves out of the planning, they were here to help, not lead for once.

"By now, I imagine the Begnion Central Army is heading our way. They're going to be our real problem." Titania remarked.

"So, if we're too slow, we get caught in the middle." Ike replied matter-of-factly. He turned to his tactician, and said, "I don't like the sound of this. Soren, do you have a deployment plan worked out?"

Before Soren could answer, Ranulf thumped his chest once with his right hand. "Actually, why don't you all just relax? You might not believe it, but WE have a plan this time!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Titania nodded with understanding. "I see. An army of that size would require a massive amount of supplies to be able to sustain itself. So the bird tribes will hit the Central Army's supply unit and slow their advance."

"Exactly." Ranulf interjected. "The empire fears the bird tribes. The 'Shipless Pirates', they're called. They specialize in surprise attacks and have been raiding Begnion merchant ships for years."

"After they hit the supply unit, the bird tribes will head north. We'll meet up with them after we finish off the nobles' forces. Then when the Central Army arrives, we'll attack them together. Does that pretty much sum it up?" Ike asked.

"I'm surprised." Soren said, eyebrows raised. "As laguz strategies go, it's not bad at all. We might even win, provided everything goes as planned."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, what do we need to do this time?" Link asked as the team walked through camp. Link leisurely rested his arms behind his head, and that left him the only one who wasn't tense and nervous besides Ike, who hardly ever looked tense.

"...You may not like this, but I don't need your help this time." Ike said. Link was so surprised he tripped flat on his face, and Samus chuckled. "This is an easy mission...And we need you all rested up for the next attack."

"Oh, I can understand that..." Link said, looking a little less hurt.

"Give it a rest, Link." Fox said, "I don't know about you, but I still feel tired. I could use another day of rest."

"Don't worry about anything, Ike." Samus said, putting her armored hand on his shoulder, "We'll be here when you need us the most."

"That's what i'm counting on." Ike said with a smile before he ran off to gather his troops.

"...Have you guys met Mr. Boffers yet?" Roy asked excitedly as he held out a pink puffball roughly the size of a tennis ball. It had little googly eyes.

"...It's staring at me." Luigi mumbled, frightened.

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Later that day the team sat situated around a campfire. Roy sat stroking the fuzz of his new...pet-thing while watching Lyon change the colors of the fire.

"...Do you really think we're needed here?" Link asked, kicking a stone away.

"I believe we are." Samus said, "...Though, maybe not at the moment."

"We made the choice already." Fox said, "We may as well stick with it, whether we're actually needed at the moment or not."

"I kinda pushed the issue, anyways." Link replied, casting a glance around the camp, "I just hope it was a good choice..."

"If things go well, we'll walk away from this in a better position than we began with." Samus said.

"I think Dr. Mario will be glad to see his pal back to normal." Fox said.

"Do that blue color again!" Roy requested exuberantly.

"At least, he seems to be speaking normally again..." Luigi whispered while Lyon changed the fire to an interesting navy blue color.

"How are you doing that, anyways?" Link asked curiously, "I don't see you using any magic..."

"I'm not." Lyon confirmed, "I'm burning my metals."

"Metals?" Fox asked, confused.

"My laboratory ingredients expired, and they're unfit for use." Lyon explained, "Then I got this crazy idea, why not have some fun with it?"

"Are you feeling ok?" Samus asked, shocked, "I've never heard you use the word, 'fun' before in the whole time i've known you."

"I'm actually feeling quite fine." Lyon replied, "...I decided not to worry about my problems until I need to. Just for the record, it isn't anywhere near as easy as it looks and i'm still struggling. I can't hold all of you guys back because I can't let go of the past."

"You don't have to change for us, Lyon." Link said, "I'm glad you're trying to be happy. Just don't forget who you are."

"I won't." Lyon sighed, "Kinda hard to when you're a royal screw-up. Heh, 'Royal'...Get it?"

"You need to work on your jokes." Link answered, his eyes twitching, "...But it's a good start!"

"Lyon, try a deep red color." Roy requested.

"I'll try." Lyon said. He looked at his organized bins of powdered metal, and after some careful thought he mixed two of them together really quick and then tossed them into the fire. It flared up as a deep crimson color, and Roy set his fuzz-puff down. He squinted as if focusing on something, and then started moving his hands around in a pattern. As the group watched the fire rose up from the wood and started forming letters when they realized he was manipulating the fire. His hands started moving faster and faster. The fire formed a swirling sphere, which ejected small letters up into the air where they continued burning in the now-ominous twilight.

When the message was finished, it only stayed a few moments before Roy lost his focus. The letters burst outwards and disipated since they lacked any material to fuel their presence.

Before it vanished, the sentence "He is Coming" stunned the other five of the group. When it vanished, it was silent for a few minutes before they said anything. Roy seemed to wake up from his stupor, and he grinned at his friends widely.

"Can we play with the fire some more? I wanna see purple fire now!"

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"What was that just now?" Fox hissed at Samus. They were in the shadow of a tent.

"How should I know?" Samus replied, stressed. "I didn't know insane people were subject to trances!"

"Is that what you would call it?" Fox asked.

"I guess. He was speaking all clearly for a while, and then he makes that one request. After that he just went strange and created those words. I'm guessing you saw that too, or am I the insane one now?"

"No, no I saw them too." Fox said, "...But who is this 'He'? It's making me worried."

"I wish I knew what it meant." Samus said, "I like to know what's going on."

"Then I imagine it's been really tough for you these past couple of months."

"You could say that." Samus shrugged.

"...What should we do?" Fox asked.

"I say we wait this out until at least something makes sense." Samus answered, "If we keep jumping around without any idea of what's really going on, we could blow this whole thing up."

"...When you put it like that, I agree with you completely." Fox said, "We have to get to the bottom of this, once and for all..."

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-Later-

Things back at camp were somewhat calm. It was mostly empty but there was still the occasionally Laguz soldier that didn't go off to fight. Samus and Fox played a few poker matches with them, which pleased Link because they were much more friendly than the soldiers from the other day.

The two laguz that played walked off with most of Fox's and Samus's spare cash, which was a real shocker for the twosome. Their opponents proved to be exceptionally cunning.

Link was leaning against a log with his eyes turned up to the sky, watching the thinning smoke from the last of Lyon's fire, when things were turned upside down.

Ike came running back into camp with his sword out, and a grim look on his face. He was soon followed by a massive full-on retreat, which included his mercenaries.

"What the hey's going on here!?" Link asked, surprised.

"Begnion's Central army arrived much sooner than we anticipated." Ike said, grimly, "Ranulf ordered a full retreat. We're going back to Gallia because Skrimir was wounded by General Zelgius."

"'Don't need your help'" Link scoffed, "Next time, don't skimp out on your resources."

"Too late for that now." Ike said, "Zelgius is an honorable man, he gave us three days to leave. I wouldn't dare fight him, you six wouldn't stand a chance against him."

"...You're kidding...Right?" Fox asked, eyes filled with disbelief. "Samus could shoot the moon out of the sky if you asked her to!"

"He ain't kidding either. I could." Samus said.

"Alright then, let's see it!" Ike said.

"Ya sure? I'm not gonna be responsible for what happens next!" Samus said before turning around and shooting a huge beam into the sky.

-------------------------------------

Short and sweet, the moon over Termina fell and destroyed almost the whole area there.

Even after all that trouble Young Link had gone through before to prevent it happening.

-----------------------------------------

Ike gasped when he saw Samus's laser pierce the heavens and knock a certain celestial object out of orbit.

"...You weren't kidding." Ike whistled.

"That's what you get for not believing me." Samus said.

"Enough with disturbing celestial alignments!" Lyon shouted, "What do we do now, then?"

"I hope you guys are good at packing." Ike grimaced. "I'll come back for you in a bit. In the meanwhile, make sure Luigi doesn't get trampled."

"We'll do that-Wait, what?" Link said. He looked around in a panic and then spotted Luigi clinging to a nearby tree for life. Soldiers were still flooding past them, and in a hurry too. "...Yeah, we'll do that. You watch yourself."

"See you soon." Ike said before darting off.

Link watched him vanish in the crowd, and then turned to his companions. "Well, that sure was quick, huh? What the heck's going on here that has everybody to start acting insane?"

Samus shrugged.

"We should learn more about Zelgius." Fox said, "He sounds very formidable. Not somebody we would want as an enemy."

"I know that he doesn't like the position he has been forced into." Samus said, which caused everybody to stare at her. "Hey, I do my research, ok? You guys could benefit from my random snippits of info!"

"Right." Link said. "Since we really didn't bring anything, we don't need to pack, am I right?"

"Yeah, except for the baggage up in the tree there." Lyon said, nodding his head towards Luigi and Roy. Roy had joined Luigi while the rest weren't looking.

"Hey! It was all to protect Mr. Boffers!" Roy claimed.

"I'm not baggage!" Luigi wailed.

Link grinned sheepishly, "Hey, could you guys come down? It's as safe as it's gonna get down here."

"If you say so." Luigi replied. He jumped free and landed near the team, while Roy fell out face first. His legs and arms were splayed out at odd angles, and the puffball bounced on top of his head while peeping.

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The team was already at the end of the Collision Chaos world. Luck was on their side this time around.

"I still can't believe we got two more time stones!" Ness said. He was holding a green, orange, and yellow time stone respectively.

"I guess we aren't limited to just one timestone per world." Matt said.

"It makes things easier." Sonic said, "We may just be able to break the limits put on our powers. Once we've done that we can destroy Metal Sonic and rescue Amy!"

"Is she the past Amy or the present Amy?" Bowser asked. Yeah, before you people ask anything he caught up after they finished the "level"

"...I suspect she's the past Amy." Sonic replied, "She acts just the same as before..."

"If that's the case, we better be careful about visiting this place a second time." Matt said, "We could easily run into ourselves."

"That'd be sooo WEIRD." Ness said.

"One Sonic is enough!" Sonic scowled, "I don't need any more unnecessary clones running about. Metal Sonic is enough on his own, isn't he?"

"Yes, I agree with you." Matt said, "Just one of you is enough to give somebody a headache."

"Thanks for-Hey! You're kidding, right?" Sonic asked, looking hurt.

"Kidding!" Matt said with a grin. "Let's look for that Future sign or whatever it is. We need to beat Eggman and keep going. What's the next area here?"

"The next area is..." Sonic started saying, before he froze solid with fear. His knees started knocking and his quills drooped.

"Oh, it's a watery place, isn't it?" Matt asked, understanding.

"T-Tidal Tempest." Sonic moaned like a ghost, "It's like a bunch of aquatic ruins...If we aren't careful we'll drown...And I STILL HATE WATER!" He yelled.

"I'm not too fond of it myself, but at least I can swim." Bowser grumbled, "Have you ever considered taking..._swimming lessons_?"

"Not really...No." Sonic answered sheepishly, "I lose the ability to think rationally near huge bodies of water! What can I say? I have Hydrophobia."

"Then how'd you get through here the first time?" Matt asked.

"This is the place I first got hydrophobia. Happy?"

"Oh..." Matt said, "I...Didn't know that."

"Good for you." Sonic said, "Now, if one of you will please, if I lose conciousness underwater, which of you will carry me?"

"Pfft, I'll do it." Bowser said.

"Thank you. Now, let's go trip into the future or something!" Sonic said. Just as soon as he said that he took a step forward and a Future sign popped up out of the ground. He bumped into it and triggered some mechanism. A catapult came up out of the ground and lifted Sonic up into the air, who was caught by surprise.

"Hey, uh, guys? I don't think you wanna miss this ride..." Sonic said uncertainly. Matt, Yoshi, Pichu, and Ness jumped right on in while Bowser had to climb in, and when the catapult went off, Sonic started glowing before he exploded into another wormhole. The team fell through it and instantly into the furture.

They all landed on the roof of a huge building that was made of dark metal. It was really creepy looking. The sky was black with red clouds and the "city" below resembled the building the team was standing on, derelict and rusty. There was also a lot of broken machinery around.

"Wow, this place is trashed." Ness said.

"This is the kind of stuff that happens if that madman Eggman is allowed to do what he wants." Sonic said, "I don't think we need to let something like this happen back on the real world either. Let's go scramble him and get the rest of the Time Stones!"

"Nice rousing speech." Bowser yawned, "Let's go beat him up already!"

"He ought to be in there." Sonic said, pointing to a passageway nearby, "He has this Pinball arena set up, so we'll have to use the flippers to get up to the top."

"That's nuts." Matt said.

Sonic shrugged. "I suggest you guys don't try curling up. The best way for me to get up there is to use the flippers but you guys should be able to jump."

"What about me?" Bowser growled, "I HAVE to use the flippers! Last time I looked I wasn't even able to jump but a foot above the ground."

"Yeah, definitely use the flippers if you have to." Sonic said, "Another thing, Eggman drops bombs."

"...Ok. We'll watch out for them." Ness said. The team walked into the passage and jumped down a narrow shaft. The shaft suddenly curved when they hit the bottom and their momentum carried them right into a large room. They bounced off a bumper and soared into the air where they caught a glimpse of Eggman in one of his machines, up at the very top of the vertical pinball arena.

"How nice of you to drop in!" Eggman shouted, "You guys feeling up for a game or two?"

"Bring it on, Eggman!" Sonic said.

"I win if you can't beat me in three minutes!" Eggman smirked evilly.

"And obviously we win if we beat YOU within those three minutes!" Ness said.

"Hmm! Sonic must be smarter if he's keeping geniuses in is party." Eggman said,

"If you're somehow insinuating that i'm stupid, think again!" Sonic cried. The battle started, and the clock ticked. Eggman watched his pocketwatch from his perch up at the only exit from the area. He occasionally threw a bomb over the edge.

Sonic leapt from the first set of flippers and soared into the air. (I will be describing this battle as if I was viewing it all from the side...) He started going right and flopped into a triangular neon bumper that reversed his horizontal momentum and sent him flying to the left. He flipped in the air to dodge a bomb before it smacked him, and then he intercepted Matt in mid-jump. He cupped his hands and Matt launched himself upward by kicking off Sonic's cupped hands, and the hedgehog shot back down. Ness tried shooting down some of the bombs with his spare rings but decided it was easier to just dodge them. He spun around one before it could hit him and detonate, then he kicked a bumper behind him to get an aerial boost. Pichu rode on Yoshi's small back and the duo worked their way up to the top using Yoshi's flutter kicks. They rested in a small tunnel to one of the sides, where a bumper was deeper inside. They were caught off guard by an explosion which tossed them into the bumper. Their newfound momentum blasted them out of their safespot and into the bottom center of the battlefield where the first two flippers were.

Bowser sidestepped the two baby smashers as they flew past him, and then mentally commanded the flipper he was on to activate. The flipper obliged, all right...All too willingly. He shot into the air, bonked his head on a circular bumper just in the very middle of the area, and skipped off to the left where he hit a triangular bumper in an alcove. He shot from that point to the upper left and skipped off a wall before slamming into the bottom of Eggman's machine. The strike made Eggman's machine lurch, which upset a cup of tea he had.

"MY PANTS!" Eggman screamed as his leather pants shrunk around his legs and cut of his blood circulation. The burning sensation of fresh hot tea didn't help any either. He danced around inside his machine and screamed for mercy.

Ness took the oppportunity to launch a PK Thunder attack at the mad scientist while he was distracted, and the shock rippled throughout the machine and shocked Eggman. It moved up a second notch, just as Sonic launched himself off another flipper and went straight up.

"It was nice playing with you, Eggman, but we have to run!" Sonic said before he punched a hole through the machine as he went up.

"Oh, crumpets!" Eggman yelled before his machine exploded and sent him flying over the horizon.

A few moments later, after everybody was out of the mad pinball machine, they continued their trek and crossed over the second boundary into the area known as Tidal Tempest.

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It was nighttime in Tellius.

The army was moving as fast as it possibly could, and the river up ahead was the last obstacle in everybody's way. Once the Laguz Alliance passed that river, little would be in the way of their retreat.

General Zelgius gave them three days to get as far away as they could, but elsewhere, other people had different plans.

Blood would be spilled.

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**Paul: This chapter was ended like so, because if it kept going it would end up getting longer and longer and longer, and naturally that would mess up the updating schedule. Probably by another five days. Eight days is long enough as it is, so hopefully nobody minds!**

**Mario: It's-a good to be back.**

**Luigi: I was getting tired of you being a Bunny, anyways. That was scary!**

**Mario: Tell me about-a it!**

**Paul: I really don't have anything else to say, except i'm very thankful you guys are willing to spend your time reading this story. I want it to continue getting better, so keep up the critique! (But TOO MUCH of it depresses me. All critique and no praise hurts. All praise and no critique is choking the story's chances of getting better.)**

**So...Um yeah. Nothing to say, so, bye for now? I guess i'll see you guys in another week or so, we'll just have to see how this next update goes.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-  
P.S.(I'm good with just about everybody on Brawl. I've neglected DK and Diddy 'cause i'm not really a fan of monkeys, but I don't hate them. I just rarely play them. ^_^)  
**


	67. Rough Waters

**Paul: Wow, everybody was so incredibly enthusiastic about last chapter, i'll have to do that again!**

**Pit: Sarcasm, everyone. Ignore him during his rant and he ought to run out of steam.**

**Link: It really wasn't the best chapter. I have seen much better...Hopefully this next one will have what the last one lacked.**

**Kirby: Yeah. Coughexcitementcough**

**Ness: I liked how Dr. Eggman's pants shrunk though. That was pretty random!**

**Matt: He better have brought waterproof trousers for this next chapter, or he'll get the short end of the stick.**

**Sonic: He always gets the short end of the stick! It was just...Pointier that time!**

**Samus: Can we get on with the chapter already? I want to blast some GUN fools already.**

**Fox: Don't shoot US, please.**

**Paul: -And that's that! Let's get on with the story already. I tend to suck at writing in-between chapters that lack exciting stuff. Last chapter fit that category, so...Yeah, time to move on.**

**Thanks for the reviews, everybody! I hope I don't disappoint any of you this time, if I did last time.  
**

**-Chapter XXXXXXVII-**

**-Rough Waters-**

**P.S.(This chapter should have a few shockers. I can't tell you why because that would spoil it.)  
**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"...And we almost escaped, but Dhaos came and nearly killed all of us." Midna said, "I just barely managed to teleport us away."

"That is a remarkable tale." Meta Knight remarked, "But what I find the most disturbing, even more so that Mario being turned into a rabbit, is the return of our arch-nemesis."

"I don't know what made Dhaos hesitate, but..." Midna said, "...I felt two very powerful presences just before I left. They were familiar. That must have been what made him hold back."

"This bodes ill..." Ganon sighed, "If he's that powerful, what is stopping him from finding us here?"

"I don't know." Cloud said, "We have to keep faith in the stronghold that Master Hand left behind for us. It's the last place we have that we can be safe at."

Meta Knight flashed him a significant glance. "I'm not ready to lose faith in this place either. I don't mean to sound uncaring, Midna, but we must continue our work as if nothing happened."

"So, we just forget we have a crazed beast pacing outside our front door?" Midna growled, her little fang sticking out.

"For now, yes." Meta Knight replied.

"Shouldn't we try to reinforce our other members on their missions?" Ganon asked.

"Heaven knows where Matt and his party is. We haven't been able to get in touch with him for a few days, so I expect he ran into trouble." Cloud answered.

"Fine." Ganondorf said, "I'm going to take a Warp Star to Tellius."

"Don't be hasty." Meta Knight warned.

"I once heard a saying from my friends." Fina said, "There is a difference between being hasty, and acting quickly."

"When you're as powerful as I am, there's no need to be careful." Ganondorf said. He turned to walk out of the bridge, but hit his head on the shutter that usually blocked the room off. It was down about a third of the way. "ARGH! My nose!"

"Smooth sailing to you." Cloud said, cracking a slight grin.

"Oh, shut up already." Ganondorf mumbled as he stomped out of the room.

Meta Knight waited a while before saying anything else. When he finally spoke, he said, "As you all know, we're staying in the Halberd until we can get the mansion rebuilt enough to house us."

"We know that already!" Spam shouted, "Who are you saying that to, anyways!?"

"I felt an uneccessary need to say it again, that is all." Meta Knight replied cooly.

"So, do we keep working on the mansion today?" Popo asked, "Or, do we call it quits?"

"If you still have the energy to work, i'd appreciate it if you used it to help finish the job." Meta Knight answered, "I shall work some myself, but I have business I must attend to first."

"I think we could do a little bit more." Nana said.

"Me too." Spam said.

"Good." Meta Knight said, "We need your help now more than ever. I shall see you soon." With that he left the bridge of the Halberd, and after that everybody else filed out and went their separate ways. Most returned to work on the mansion, which was coming along nicely. Others turned in for the day, and the rest went to visit the wounded in the sick bay of the ship.

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"Good thing we managed to stall him for a while..." Cress panted. "...This is a good measure of how bad things are getting."

"We both possess almost enough power to rival all of the smashers combined, and the best we could do was just distract him." Master Hand sighed, "I feared this would happen. Dhaos is only going to get stronger. If we don't do something to stop him, and soon, we are doomed."

"I hate to admit it but you're right." Cress said, "Soon, we'll be obsolete in this battle."

"..."

"What can we do? This isn't going as we planned at all."

"Indeed it isn't." Master Hand said, "I was hoping at least one of the smashers would be as powerful as one of us, but I could still flick one of them away and knock them out. It doesn't matter how valiant, or honorable they are in the end...If their enemy is stronger, they WILL be crushed."

"And yet we, and they too, fight on." Cress smirked, "We've always prevailed in the end...haven't we?"

"Yes...And sometimes, at a cost." Master Hand said, "They need me. I cannot do this anymore. I must tell them...the secrets."

"...No, we agreed we'd save that as a last resort." Cress argued, "Don't lose your mind, Master Hand, remember we must only undergo the journey for the ultimate power when there is absolutely no hope left. Besides, they lack the fortitude to control that power! They would be destroyed!"

"...What am I thinking?" Master Hand moaned, "Have I lost faith in my subjects already? Has this gone so far that I have lost faith in myself?"

"..."

"I wonder if we even have a chance anymore, Cress, If this continues...even the ultimate power will not help us."

"The ultimate power is different for each and every individual." Cress said, "If enough of the smashers master it, we will still be able to stop THAT from happening."

"The time is not right to tell them about that yet. They would lose heart, and hope. Those two things are probably the most priceless for them now. The best I can do is lead them once more, like the old days..."

"So, where does that leave me?" Cress asked.

"We will lead them together. Our enemies already have a figurehead for their army...The Smashers need their mentor back. Actually, Mentors."

"This is it, then, isn't it?" Cress said, "I was hoping to wait a little bit longer for this, but it seems we have no choice."

"Yes. Time to return to the Smash Mansion." Master Hand said.

"They haven't felt the sorrow of losing one of their fellow fighters yet." Cress said, "And, it is something that shouldn't have to happen. They MUST get stronger."

"It was that sorrow that drove my brother mad." Master Hand admitted, "Over the years, as our friends died fighting against evil, we felt it, each and every time. They were so close to us, it was like they took a part of us every time they left. Crazy Hand was always more sensitive than me...But I feel that he may be recovering from it all, finally."

"We don't want him to get let down again, now, would we?" Cress said, "That would be so cruel, to lose your friends a second time."

"It wasn't so easy to lose you either, you know." Master Hand said, "This battle is going to take everything we have, and most likely our lives in the end. Are you still with me?"

"I have been for five thousand years." Cress replied.

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That little plan had been flawless! It was perfect. And yet, it failed.

Why?

"Because those stupid little smashers had to get involved!" The GUN commander growled.

He was sitting in his office, impatiently drumming his fingers on his desk. He was waiting for Dhaos, who he was absolutely sure would be peeved at him, or worse.

He was confident that he could handle himself though.

But still! That plan was great. He was going to let the Shadow Queen have Peach as her host once more, which would have won him a powerful ally. Dhaos would have been an even better ally, but now...Well, he would be lucky to get away from this unscathed now.

That was when Dhaos made his entrance.

A black wormhole opened up in the middle of the room, and the lord of chaos stepped out of the darkness. He was so tall and imposing!

"I see you have made it back..." the commander said, standing up respectfully.

"You have been unable to keep your end of the deal, Commander." Dhaos seethed quietly, "...But I understand. You are not responsible for the Smasher's actions, and it is only for that reason I shall let you live today. I hereby withdraw my aid. I will not waste my power on people that cannot use it."

"Dhaos! Please, reconsider..."

"No. I will let you go, but if you EVER get in my way, I and my followers will not hesitate to erase you."

"What followers?" The commander scoffed.

"Just hope that you never have to meet any of them." Dhaos replied darkly, "In some instances, they are even more merciless than I am. Be thankful I allowed you to live today." With that last comment, he stepped into his portal and left the commander on his own once more.

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(A/N I will be introducing characters from Radiant Dawn. If you are unfamiliar with them or just haven't played any FE games before, Wikipedia is your best friend. Go look 'em up!)

On the other side of the river, the side the Laguz Alliance were trying to get back to, the Daein army was camped and prepped for battle. It was under the newly crowned King Pelleas' orders that they were there.

It was still nighttime.

Micaiah, Supreme Commander of the Daein army, and also known as the Priestess of Dawn, sat inside a small cone shaped tent off to the side of the main army's camp.

She was consumed by the unknown. Torn between fighting for her king, and leaving the war behind. What part was Daein playing in this growing conflict? They had just fought for their own freedom under the tyrrany of the Begnion empire, and now they were fighting alongside of them against the Laguz Alliance, and Ike? What was going on here? Why was Pelleas so quick to jump to his enemies' aid?

And she was still unable to see the future. She didn't let anybody but Sothe know that, though...She didn't want anybody to worry unnecessarily for her when there were bigger things, more important things to worry about than a little fortuneteller from the middle of nowhere.

At least, that was how she made her living before. Now, she was starting to wonder a little bit whether she was destined for something bigger than what she was used to. Here she was now, leading an army of people that revered her as their savior, the one who delivered them from the hands of the all-powerful Begnion empire.

Surely this was a sign of some sort?

_I'm so tired of fighting. _She thought. Fighting continuously was taking its toll on her health. She was so tired all of the time, it was a wonder she didn't just up and fell asleep in the middle of an assault!

_At least...At least I have met more people sympathetic to my plight than just Sothe. They're so...Kind, and honorable._

_What did they call themselves again?_

_...Smashers? Yes. That's it..._

"We're ready." a tall, green haired youth announced as he poked his head into the tent.

"Thank you, Sothe." Micaiah sighed, getting to her feet.

"...Are you really sure you want to go through with this?" Sothe asked.

"...It's not like we have a choice." Micaiah said, "My king is counting on me to accomplish my mission...and I won't let my people down."

"Alright then. Let's go, Micaiah." Sothe said. He stepped in and pushed one of the tent flaps out of Micaiah's way, and she exited the tent and headed for the center of the camp, where her forces waited for her presence before moving out to do their task.

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Still they marched on. The army was approaching the banks of the river, but they weren't quite there yet. It was the dead of the night, and moonless at that. Link could barely even see his hand in front of his face, let alone Roy or Samus who were the closest to him. They were still leading Roy on and protecting him in case if something went arwy.

It was a minute later when things DID go rotten. It was still early in the morning, close to sunrise but still so dark it was impossible to see. They were practically on the banks of the river and many laguz had already gone into the water when one shouted, "We're under attack!"

The sound of battle quickly erupted across the wide, but waist-high river. It was the shallowest at this point, but the water was still strong and hard to wade through. The thought of being pinned here between a new enemy and the Central army from behind shocked the Smashers in Ike's party

Link's blood started pumping fiercely. He didn't WANT to get caught, or defeated by anybody!

"Hy-YAH!" Link cried. He dropped his position at the side of Roy and Samus and charged straight into the raging water, sword drawn. He equiped his Iron Boots before taking on the current of the river. He stomped across the river with his weapon and shield in hand, and patient steps soon brought him into the thick of the battle. He could see a little bit better since they were out of the cover of the trees, and the area was lit up by the stars. He couldn't tell for sure but he suspected his enemies had on black armor...Unlike the sharp crimson Begnion soldiers wore.

These guys weren't Begnion soldiers. It was a completely different army.

Link reached a tiny islet and crawled up on the shore, where he could see the battle better. In front of him a small brigade of soldiers weilding lances battled the Laguz fiercely, giving and taking no quarter. They were actually keeping up with the ferocious onslaught of the laguz. The two were obviously at a stalemate, but that was before Link became a part of the fight.

Since none of them were within range of his sword, and the Laguz were bloodthirsy it would be suicide jumping into the bloodbath below. He pulled out his bow and drew an arrow, which the then guided into the forehead of an unsuspecting soldier below. The fight paused a second as the fighters looked at where the arrow came from, and when they saw Link the Daein soldiers started shouting out warnings and Link swore some of the laguz were grinning.

_Alright, then. If that's how it is...I'll show them how good I am!_ Link thought. He grinned back at his allies and plucked out another arrow from his quiver before letting it loose. He was rewarded with a pained shout as it pierced the shoulder plate of another soldier. By now the enemies knew Link's position and they were firing arrows at him. Few came close, but there were some that almost hit him, all of them coming from the same direction.

_Haven't used this baby in a long time..._

Link pulled out a mask that resembled a Hawk's face, but in the eye holes were telescopic lenses. He put the mask on and looked in the direction the accurate arrows were coming from, and spotted a archer looking right at him. He rolled to the side to avoid an arrow coming in right at him, and then he aimed back at the archer before letting loose. The archer, who was blonde with a blue shirt and white pants, tried to avoid the arrow but Link's aim was so exact, he was still hit in the shin. The boy collapsed on the ground with a sharp gasp of pain, and Link's heart twinged.

He was fighting soldiers AND children? Or were they teenagers, not much younger than he was himself? He couldn't help but look at everybody else across the river, and noticed more fighters...Very unorthodox like Ike's own crew. These weren't soldiers.

He hoped the people across the river were watching him. He put his bow away, equiped his iron boots and Magic Armor, and started the long trek across the river. He focused solely on his goal, ignoring all attacks aimed at him. As far as he knew, there was nothing they could do to harm him now. As he got closer he could see the people, and most of them started aiming their ranged attacks at him. The archer was back up, most likely healed by one of the priests nearby, and he had an arow aimed at Link's head.

Link put his hands up since he didn't have a white flag to wave, and the kid halted a moment. Within the next second he aimed at Link's legs instead and fired. He kept walking and the arrow just bounced off, which shocked Leonardo, the archer in question.

"Sorry about your leg!" Link said, "I don't want to fight!"

"Then go elsewhere!" Nolan shouted back, "You have a choice."

"You aren't soldiers." Link said, stating facts, "Who are you people? What are you doing here, and what army is this?"

"That is none of your concern." A voice said.

It stopped Link cold. The last time he heard that voice was in Dhao's castle...

He looked around to see a girl with silver hair standing next to the Black Knight.

"The Black Knight..." Link said, eyes narrowing in suspicion, "Then this is the Daein army, isn't it?"

"Please, go." Micaiah asked, "Don't let your friends see you...Link."

Overload.

The Black Knight stepped forward and brandished Alondite, obviously aiming to battle Link if he didn't leave. He stood his ground.

"...You said my friends were here." Link said, quietly, "...Tell me, are they here as prisoners, or are they...with you?"

"...They fight alongside me." Micaiah said.

"You better leave." Sothe said.

"...No." Link said, eyes blazing, "I want answers. What are you doing here? I am a very honorable person, and if something is wrong I want to help. Don't push me away."

"I can't accept any help from anyone." Micaiah answered passionately, "This is Daein's problem. And Daein shall deal with it."

"Don't be insane." Link said, "...You aren't my enemies, don't become my enemies."

Sothe charged, and Link leaned his head away, baring his neck. Knife struck flesh, but it bounced right off as if Link was made of steel.

"It didn't even scratch him..." Sothe said, worried. Micaiah glanced at Link, and then looked at the Black Knight.

"I have impervious armor like your dark friend here." Link said cooly, "I could take each and every one of you out on my own, and maybe even the Black Knight. By the way, I've fought you before. Do you remember Dhaos?"

"...That is the first time i have heard that name." The Black Knight answered, "I do not know who you are either."

Now he was getting odd glances. The Black Knight didn't remember him?

But then Roy knew HE was coming...

"...I'll be back in the morning." Link said. The battle was starting to thin a little bit, and his other friends were down in the water still fighting. "You can tell me everything then, or forget getting help."

"..."

Link left them, just as the two armies pulled out to nurse their wounds. He was itching to hear Ike's plans when they got back. He was gonna have to tell everybody else the great news he had just heard.

He was frustrated, confused, and annoyed.

_My friends are fighting for Daein? What is going on? WHY are they helping enemies? They'd better have a good reason for this or...!_ He found himself strangling thin air.

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Back on the Little Planet, Matt's team struggled through the fierce waters of the Tidal Tempest zone in search of rings.

Sonic was strapped to Bowser's back, where he had his arms crossed and wore a scowl.

(So, how do ya like being strapped to Bowser's back like a baby?) Yoshi bubbled.

"Oh, shut up." Sonic growled. He hated being underwater. He was so light, he couldn't run at all underwater, but he was heavy enough to sink right to the bottom. No matter how you looked at it, water was a deathtrap for him. The very thought of touching it like this...!

Sonic's eyes turned into X's and he let out a blast of bubbles from his mouth as he passed out. His almost irrational fear of water got the better of him.

"If he had just learned to swim he wouldn't have this problem!" Matt sighed.

"How are we talking underwater?" Ness asked.

"Plot device. Now shut up." Bowser said. He was even more defenseless than before because now he was even slower and couldn't use his calling card, his fire breath. At least he could jump a bit higher...

"Bowser! Watch where you step!" Ness yelped. Bowser jumped to the side, just barely avoiding puncturing his foot on a spike tile.

"Thanks for the warning." Bowser sighed with relief.

"I warned you because if you got your foot stabbed we'd lose all seventy rings we have!" Ness said.

"*Sigh*"

"Make that eighty." Matt said, "I just grabbed ten more."

(That leaves 20 more to go.) Pichu replied, (...When do you think i'll be able to talk again? Normally, instead of all this "Pichu" crap?)

"Most likely after we've left this place or maybe after we get all of the time stones." Matt said.

(Phooey.) Pichu mumbled.

A few minutes later, the team was out of the water and walking down a passageway in the aquatic ruins with a little more than a hundred rings in their possession. Sonic was spitting up water like a fountain. Bowser was mumbling something about feeling like he was fat, and Yoshi and Pichu made fun of him very quietly.

After the hedgehog got himself unstrapped from Bowser's back, he ran down the passage as fast as he could to get to the giant ring, which prompted everybody else to pick it up. They ran after him, and when they were halfway there Sonic was already gone. One by one they bounced into the middle of the ring, Matt going first, followed by Ness, Pichu, Yoshi, and of course Bowser who was always the caboose in this world.

Now all that remained was for them to make sure they obtained their third Time stone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Ok, I took too long. I'm gonna be honest folks, I've been working on my games next to not stop, and then I had some beef with my computer ending up in the shop. Add to that already unsightly mix I've been beta-testing an awesome game for somebody and a lack of interest in writing my story on my part.**

**Well, i'm back! I gotta find a balance, but I also have some good news for you all. I made the decision, and I'm gonna actually work on my SSB game now! Yeah! You heard me. Supremacy will finally be in your hands, someday, in the form of a game. Yay? I sure hope so!**

**I cut this chapter short 'cause it wasn't gonna get anywhere, and I need to inject some life back into my series before it shrivels up and dies. You guys, Kbxshadow and Supersmasher025, and anybody else that has an OC in this story that wants them to appear in the game. Me. You. EMAIL. Ok?**

**Speaking of OC's. I know i've been rather accepting up till now, but I'm afraid I'd lose my sanity if I put anymore in. I'm even gonna make some characters unavailable in the game. (Eliwood? Erika? For pete's sake they'd most likely have the same stuff.)**

**I'm gonna start a new Smash forum that's gonna be dedicated to working this game stuff out, so look my forum up if you wanna help out!**

**That's all for now. If anybody wants to visit me i'll tell them in an E-mail where I've KINDA set up my base. Then they can learn a bit about the game I am beta-testing. It is NOTHING like I've seen in a long time. So. EPIC.**

**Anyways, see ya guys. I missed you, but I'm starting to think it's too much to keep asking you guys to forgive me...I've kept you all waiting for too long too many times. I'll see you at my forum hopefully if you guys wanna keep in touch.**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-  
**


	68. Are You With or Against Me?

**I am officially terrible at updating my story. :O**

**I DO happen to be making good progress on the Supremacy game, so maybe I'll upload some videos of it to Youtube soon. My computer sucks though so the videos would butcher the game. You'd be SO much better downloading a demo of it, which I think I'll release an updated one soon. After I get more story stuff done first though. There's not much at all yet but that'll change soon enough!**

**And the longer I work on it the more awesome stuff I come up with. RPG turn based battles have almost never been so...strategic and intense. At least, the ones I've done. I may just have captured the scariness of the baddies the Smashers have to fight in my story. :O**

**If that's true then you people are in for some of the wildest adventures ever! I'll have some extra cutscenes in the game that aren't in the story, as well as arcs. My treat to you, the fans. :D This includes....................Many extra things of awesomeness.**

**Anyhow, story time! I gotta get this rolling because I can't make anything out of a story that isn't finished, right?**

**Marth: I want in the story already! UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!!**

**-Chapter XXXXXXVIII-**

**-Are You With, or Against me?-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Anger burned like a raging flame in Link's chest. He couldn't control it very well. It felt like a ball of heat within his body, threatening to melt him down from within. He couldn't understand his unquenchable frustration...

After that discussion with Micaiah...His inner calmness had been disturbed by that growing ball of discontent and malice inside him.

Just who did his friends think he was? What did they all swear by when they joined together to for the Super Smash Brothers? If they broke that sacred oath...He didn't think he had the ability to hold himself back anymore.

"What's wrong with me?" Link growled, curling froward and clamping his head between his hands. He didn't say it loud enough for anybody else to head, but it was obvious something really bad was bothering him.

Luigi glanced at him anxiously from the corner of his eye, and turned back to the min-meeting in front of him. Samus, Lyon, Roy, Fox, and himself were the ones holding it....and Link still seemed seriously out of it.

".....And at this rate I seriously doubt a confrontation with our former allies can be avoided." Fox said, "If they've truly sided with the Daein forces then our best move would be to knock them out and leave them. I figure, after Begnion passes them they can....do whatever. If they're unconscious there's a good chance they'll be ignored."

"Don't give up hope on them yet, Fox." Samus urged, "This whole battle here's been hard on us all. Link's still recovering. Besides, while the Laguz Alliance and the Daein armies are sure to fight each other later this morning, surely we can solve the misunderstanding between our members!"

"I wonder who it is we'll have to fight..." Luigi said with a worried look.

"I hope none of them try hurting Mr. Boffers!" Roy suddenly shrieked.

"I'm sure they won't." Lyon said, trying to calm the maniacal swordsman down.

"Regardless of what we decide to do, We'll have to fight whether we like it or not." Samus replied, staring everybody in the eye. "We'll be heading out with Ike and some of his troops to distract the head of the Daein army while the alliance sneaks down the river and passes behind them. Since it would appear Micaiah's forces and the Black Knight are our strongest opponents....It's only natural that we aim for them while the others battle the normal forces."

"As sound a plan as we'll get at this acursed hour." Lyon sighed.

"Agreed." Fox said. The group then sat in silence. During the time they waited Roy stroked the puffball he named Mr. Boffers while it squeaked. Still, nobody knew what the heck it was exactly.

Suddenly, Ike appeared from the line of trees surrounding the mini-camp and approached the ring of fighters.

"We're beginning now." Ike warned, "For this to work, I need your extra muscle."

"Duh, Captain, that's why we're here!" Samus chided him.

"I appreciate the help you're giving me." Ike replied, "Honestly."

"No problem." Fox answered, "...Let's go see who exactly our opponents are then shall we?"

Samus, Fox, Lyon, and Luigi then left the clearing, leaving Link and Roy behind with Ike.

After a moment of silence, during which the trio exchanged unusually intense looks, Ike spoke up.

"You two know what we have to do right?" Ike asked, "Think you can still handle it?"

"No matter what my striggle is, I will prevail." Link sighed wearily.

"We just gotta beat up this BK guy ya told me about!" Roy chirped, "BK....Reminds me of Burger King! Does he make good sandwiches?"

"No." Ike replied shortly.

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A bit later, Ike and Co. were situated on the banks across the river from the Daein army.

Even across the large river, Micaiah and Ike stared right into each others eyes with incredible intensity.

"...You know, it doesn't have to be this way." Ike called out.

"But it is." Micaiah replied blankly, "Just accept it, there's nothing to be done."

In Link's stead, Ike asked the question bugging the smashers the worst. "This is the last time...You will refuse our help?"

"There's no turning back. We're enemies. We can't back down, retreat, or surender."

"Then that's the way it'll be." Ike replied, "I hope you've made your peace then. I've never let anybody get in my way..." He said, pulling his blade out and getting into a battle stance, "...Even if that means I have to cut them down against my better judgment."

"I wouldn't expect anything less of such an excellent warrior." Micaiah sighed, pulling out a tome of light magic. After that she turned to Sothe and asked, "Will the other Smashers fight with us today?"

"Yes...They agreed, and least two of them did. The swordsman wasn't so keen on it." Sothe replied.

"I see...Well, call them forward..." Micaiah sighed.

Sothe nodded to a nearby soldier with a trumpet, who took the cue and blew into the instrument. Three sharp peals rang across the water, and then a section of the mini-army split to create a walkway for three figures that just appeared.

After a few moments of them walking...they finally came into focus and some of the group gasped.

Marth, Aliana, and Donkey Kong strode down the newly created walkway, fully armed and ready for battle. Marth and Aliana were outfitted in black variations of their normal clothing, and DK was wearing giant black shoulder guards, a chest plate, and a helmet created to fit him specially.

Marth was ambling along carefully with a slender, light blue blade in his hand while DK carried a gigantic battle axe in addition to the special boulder knuckles. Aliana's weapons were still sheathed but her hands rested on their hilts and her only visible eye gleamed menacingly.

Without a single word, the trio walked up to Micaiah, Sothe, and the Black Knight, and stood their ground to face their brethren across the river. While Aliana and DK continued to stare right ahead, Marth's eyes wandered and shortly his head was hanging...in shame? Regret? From so far away it was hard to tell.

After a few moments of the drawn out silence, Micaiah pumped her fist into the air and shouted in a surprisingly strong voice, "CHAAAAAAAAAARGE!"

"GREIL MERCENARIES, ATTACK!" Ike cried, pointing his blade at the Daein army.

"They're fighting with their legendary weapons." Fox said, shaking his head in surprise. "And why are they looking at us like that? Are they brainwashed?"

"If so Marth's still in possession of his mind." Samus said, "That pathetic mopey appearance tells ya he isn't going to fight us."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I know the guy. I thought you did too."

"I know next to nothing about Aliana, but she looks like she might actually enjoy this." Luigi whispered.

"And DK always did like a hearty fight." Fox said.

"HEY, WHAT PART OF ATTACK DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!?" Ike bellowed.

"GAH!" Lyon yelped in shock.

"EWW!" Roy yelled, "Mr. Boffers went to the bathroom on my hand!"

"Keep that to yourself, dangit!" Samus snapped, "Here they come!" While she wasn't looking Roy wiped his hand on her armor and pocketed the fuzzball before drawing the Sword of Seals and taking a stance.

While the team watched, DK and Aliana came at them at top speed. Aliana seeming ran across the water while DK followed up behind her, creating giant arcs of water as the duo made their way towards the team.

Marth stayed on the opposite shore and watched the fight litterally explode right in front of him, and watched with growing unease as DK and Aliana made their way towards the group just across from him.

Suddenly, he threw his sword against the dirt and slamped his foot on the hilt. "I can't take this anymore!" He cried. The smashers across the river, and Micaiah's group looked at him in surprise.

He unclenched his fists and stared right into Link's eyes. "I'm sorry! I refuse to take up arms against my former friends! But neither can I take up arms against my new friends! I am sorry, Micaiah! I can't fight! I WON'T fight! I know you're right! But then I must bring up the question! Why am I fighting my friends!? They'd never commit the evil they've been accused of doing! If my conclusion is correct....!!!!"

"Then this means I have no place in this fight!"

At the end of his shouting spree, Marth first looked at Micaiah's shocked face apologetically, and then turned that same face toward Ike and Link. After that he bolted into the woods nearby and effectively removed himself from the scene of battle.

Feeling heartened, the anger in Link instantly dispelled and a grin cracked across his mouth. He wasn't sure about Aliana really, but this was just another brawl with DK. Just like old times.

Link, Fox, Samus, Luigi, Lyon, Ike, and Roy dashed into the fight with their energy suddenly restored. They couldn't understand their sudden exhilaration, but there it was. The battle around them barely drew their attention.

"I'll take down Aliana." Fox offered, "I may not be fast enough to keep up with her so I need some help!"

"She's scary but I'll try to help!" Luigi offered, clutching the Thor hammer in his hands.

"Then that means I'll take DK down." Samus said, "We'll get scrapped if the Black Knight attacks us in the middle of these fights so why don't you and Roy go for him?" she suggested to Link.

"Let's do that!" Link agreed, "You ready, Roy boy?!"

"Yeshyeshyeshyesh!" Roy shouted very quickly, nodding his head at incredible speed.

"I'll make sure nobody dies." Lyon said, pulling out a physic staff.

Aliana was the first to reach the group. Luigi and Fox had already determindely locked eyes with her so she went after them. a few yards from them she whipped her blades out and spread them like wings, and practically pounced on them with her weapons flying about in a storm of slashes. Sparks flew as Fox slashed and twirled his staff around to deflect all of Aliana's attacks, but she was quickly getting an edge against him.

Samus blazed past the battle between the trio and headed towards DK, who lumbered towards her.

Just before she reached him, DK lowered his axe and used his spinning Kong attack. He quickly became an uncontrollable spinning hurricane, but Samus easily leapt over him and did a hand-stand on his head.

"Good to see you again DK." said Samus cordially.

"Ooook Ooook! (Good to see you toooooooo!!!)" DK grunted, coming out of his spin a little dizzy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-The fight with Aliana-

Fox was still busy deflecting Aliana's relentless barrage of attacks. Luigi kept trying to get in an attack but the Altean general, without fail, continued to knock him away when he kept getting into the fight.

"Just because we're all Smashers doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you when I finally ahve a chance to battle you." Aliana said.

"So you're not just mindlessly trying to kill us?" Fox asked hopefully.

"Did you think I was being mind controlled?" Aliana scoffed, "Suuure....Still don't expect me to go easy on you. If you get killed that's your problem."

"Likewise!" Fox shouted, "Repulsor Wave!" When he shouted that, he channeled all the energy from his staff into his reflector in an instant, then thrusted the reflector at Aliana before activating it. It created a hexagonal shockwave that blew the general clean off her feet. She righted herself in midair and landed on her feet before kicking off of it again and coming right back at Fox.

"Been wanting to try that one for a while." Fox smirked. Aliana came at him spinning like a drill, and the specter of a giant sea serpent formed around her body. Fox dove out of the way before she hit the ground where he was standing. He fired a few laser blasts at her which she dodged by jumping into the air and countered with a few darkness based sword beams. Fox reflected them and the two landed back on the ground before attacking each other again.

Aliana reached him first and lashed out with the hilt of her jion. The attack caught the pilot off guard and hit him in the chest. While he was still winded she slashed upwards and tossed him into the air with a gust of wind, then spun around and started slashing him like a windmill. He took a few nasty hits before he could protect himself. Right after Aliana slashed him a fourth time he sharply jabbed her in the midriff with his staff. He took the chance to safely land and attack again while there was still an opening. Aliana stumbled backwards but managed to block a third attack from the pilot and sparks flew again.

"Stop ignoring me!" Luigi cried. He charged in and slammed the wet ground with his hammer and sent a wave of lighting towards the Altean general while she was distracted. She didn't have the time to avoid it and took the full power of the shock. It was powerful enough to send her flying. Fox and Luigi merely resumed their stances while waiting for her to stand back up.

"Fine. If that's how ya wanna play it then get your fill of this." Aliana said, "Fenrir! I summon you from the depths of the eternal forest of winter to pass judgement on the green plumber!"

"WHUT!?" Luigi shrieked.

"It looks like she's summoning a giant wolf spirit." Fox mumbled. Before their eyes a tremendous black and white wolf materialized. Its size was comparable to Giga Bowser, and it could easily swallow the duo whole if it wanted.

"Knock the plumber out." Aliana ordered, pointing at Luigi. The wolf snorted it assent, and then gave an earth-shaking, blood chilling howl.

"Have fun!" Fox shouted, diving out of the way as the gigantic wolf spirit charged at Luigi.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" Luigi screamed, his eyes bugging out. Fenrir charged him down and slammed a giant paw down on the ground where he was standing. He barely avoided the attack by jumping into the air just as its claws sailed past him.

"Shall we continue?" Aliana asked, brushing some of her hair out of her right eye while Luigi screamed and ran away from the wolf spirit in the background.

"Lets." Fox said.

"Sonic Blade!"

"Fox Illusion!"

The two fighters slammed into each other and created a shockwave from the impact of their weapons. Fox drew his blaster and fired an icy laser at Aliana from point blank range. She nimbly swerved out of the way and took a few more windmill slashes at him which he barely avoided by deflecting them with his staff. She switched from a spinning assault to an incredibly fast paced barrage of thrusts. Fox continued protecting himself by spinning his staff like a fan and prepared to attack again with Quake spell charged lasers. Even if the laser itself didn't hurt her the resulting shockwaves would.

"Take this!" Fox shouted. He fired three quake lasers in succession. The first two missed but the third struck her right on and shook her whole body at the core, effectively stunning her. Fox combined his Fire Fox attack with his staff rocket magic and turned himself into a super fast flaming projectile. He plowed right into her stomach again and blew her away once more. She splashed into the water and created a huge plume of water droplets, and Fox managed to skid to a stop before he went too far. Aliana quickly got herself back up, and glared daggers at the anthropomorphic fox.

"Now you asked for it." She declared menacingly. "Vortex!" She held her arms out and positioned her swords like fan blades, and started spinning around very fast on the tips of her toes. She created a miniature whirlwind around her body that Fox found hard to escape from, and before he knew it he was jerked in. He was only hit a few times before Aliana canceled the attack and used another one. "Shadow Blitz!" She cried as her swords gave off a spurt of dark flame. She placed both her hands together and slashed him. The attack was really powerful and took up a lot of Aliana's energy, but it did more damage to Fox that it did to her. Fox gagged in pain and doubled over, holding the black gashes on his chest. Not stopping her assault, Aliana grabbed him by his shirt and tossed him into the air.

"Aqua Laser!" She cried. A bubble of water formed around her katana as she pointed it at her airborne target. The water then erupted from her weapon and grew into a gigantic boiling geyser that hit Fox head on. Right after the attack she pursued him and started slashing at him rapidly in the air before knocking him down to the earth again. "Umbra Blade!" Aliana shouted. She held her weapons above her head and spun like a saw while leaving behind a dark wheel of energy. Fox smacked into the ground and she almost sliced him in half but he escaped just barely by jetting out of the way with his staff. He rolled back onto his feet by using the momentum to roll over his head, and when he was back up he managed to send a wave of flame at her from his staff.

Aliana dodged the first wave of flame by jumping into the air and rolling above it sideways, and blasted a hole in the next wave with another aqua laser. Fox leaned out of the way of the painful jet of water and ran away when Aliana came flying at him while doing another whirlwind attack. Gathering up as much of his remaining energy as he could he ran away using his illusion attack and the staff as a jet. He nearly ran off as fast as Sonic, he was going so fast. He zigzagged about and Aliana couldn't keep up with him any more. He then dashed into her back and slammed her really hard before dashing away again to hit her from another direction. Soon she was being battered from every direction. While still running around really fast, Fox started channeling the remaining energy into his gun. From a distance away it looked as if Aliana was being beaten up by a swarm of invisible fighters.

"Super Sonic Hail Quake!" Fox cried. He suddenly started shooting quake lasers at the Altean general while running all over the place so her body was being shaken by shockwaves from every direction. Her weapons clattered to the ground as her body convulsed with all the force slamming into it, and after nailing her so many times, Fox dashed one final time and skidded to a stop right in front of her. His hand was aimed right at her, and in his open palm rested a fully charged Reflector.

"Repulsor Wave!" Fox cried. A gigantic hexagon wave erupted from his palm and blew into Aliana. The blast created a loud humming noise and tossed her far away, where she landed face up in the water with a splash before completely losing consciousness.

Now that his energy was completely used up, Fox spun the staff and then inserted it in the holder on his back. Luigi was still running around like a maniac, dodging Fenrir's attacks. He tripped and it was about to squish him, but the giant paw vanished along with the rest of the spirit wolf before it KO'd him. He looked around in fear, wondering where the wolf went, when he saw Aliana's KO'd body and a badly damaged Fox.

Fox gave a weak chuckle, and the collapsed from exhaustion and his wounds.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

-The fight with DK-

DK stopped spinning completely and before he could do anything Samus pushed herself free from him and somersaulted away. She landed on the ground in a crouch. DK tossed his axe away since he was better with his fists anyways, and with a roar he tore his armor off and sprinted towards the bounty hunter while winding up a punch.

Samus smoothly shot to the side with a blast from her jets, and during her sideways dash she fire her grapple beam and grabbed DK around the waist. After she snared him she fired her jets full power and wound herself around his body. Just when she ran out of grapple beam she ende dup in DK's surprised face with a fully charged power beam. Another blast issued from her jets to counter her speed, and in the brief moment she was suspened right in front of him she released the charged laser blast.

The blast sent DK flying away, but since he was still wrapped up in the beam he spun as the distance grew between the two fighters and when the beam finally ran out he continued spinning away like a top. Samus flipped again and landed on her feet while preparing her missiles and just a moment later she released five of them. They spread out in a star like shape then converged on DK.

DK stuck his arms out and turned the spin to his advantage, and he swatted the missiles away before they could detonate. He stopped his spin by grinding his knuckles against the ground. The Boulder Knuckles reacted by creating a whole bunch of earth spikes around him, which quickly formed a cone of stone around him. He used his Giant Punch to send a chunk of the wall flying and Samus, and while she dodged the chunk of earth he rapidly punched more boulders at her. The Bounty Hunter swerved and jumped through the storm of boulders and just as she got into range she used a jet-assisted roundhouse kick to blow the whole mound of rock to bits. DK shielded himself from the falling debris with his arms, and waited until Samus had landed again before freeing himself. As soon as he was clear from the pile of rock he used his Giant Punch in midair and a giant boulder materialized from his fist. It quickly grew to the size of a bus before it reached Samus.

"Thunder Lance!" Samus cried. She punched a hole through the boulder with her Grapple beam, and before it could crush her she fired a huge pulse of lightning down the beam. The boulder exploded and she retracted her grapple beam just as DK flew through the debris at her. His fist missed her head by an inch as she leaned out of the way, but the shockwave from his resulting landing tossed her into the air.

"Rock Snipe!" DK shouted, aiming another punch at her. She was still a bit stunned and the flying rock exploded on her helmet. The impact jarred her and before she knew it her back was against the ground again. DK was standing above her the next moment, prepared to slam her into the dirt with his fists. She couldn't roll to the sides since he was standing with his legs against her sides so she did the next thing that came to mind.

Jets again!

DK's fists came down just as she shot away across the ground. When his fists hit dirt a hill formed where he hit it and the sudden slope made Samus roll over her head. She was now face down on the ground and her jets were pushing her back up the hill against her will.

"Turn off you crappy rockets!" Samus shouted.

The distance closed between the two smashers again, during which DK wound up one more punch. He released it just as Samus was within range, and his fist slammed into her helmet. The force of his punch turned her body a completely different direction, and like a firework she shot up into the sky leaving behind a trail of smoke as she swerved around all over the place. Her jets finally sputtered and stopped, and she plummeted to the ground.

_No, I don't wanna lose...Why am I losing?_ Samus said to herself. A few moments later, DK was back.

"Ooo....Sammy won't win, if she hold back." DK grunted, "I know you holding back."

"Since when did you learn to talk anyways?" Samus asked, still laying on the ground.

"DK....DK learn with...with much practice!" DK grunted, showing his teeth, "DK also train very hard! Mastering Boulder Knuckles!"

"Good...That's good." Samus said, "Keeping on top of things. I like that."

"Sammy no hold back! Show DK her moves!" DK said.

"Might wanna use somebody else as your role model instead of Captain Falcon." Samus suggested, "But always keep this in mind, you asked for it."

"Ooo?"

Samus suddenly grabbed him with her Grapple beam again, and took off into the air with him in tow. After they were decently high, about a hundred feet in the air she jerked her grapple beam and tossed DK higher into the air above herself , then super charged her jets with all of her available lighting power. She slammed into him while leaving behind a trail of sparks in the air, and knocked him even higher.

"Storm Bomb!" Samus cried. She fired off seeker missiles again but they were connected to her cannon by purple trails of lightning. The five missiles spread out and stopped when they were all parallel with DK's body, then started spinning around him like a merry-go-round. They formed a colossal ring of lightning in the sky, and the lightning tendrils connected to Samus' gun formed a cone that was attached to the ring.

"Storm Bomb: Screw Attack Variation!" Samus shouted. She curled into a ball and turned into a blazing blue saw of plasma, and she stayed suspended in air there for a moment before shooting at DK. A sonicboom crashed the moment she released herself, and when she struck DK the sky was lit up with a huge burst of lightning.

Samus landed on the ground with a great deal of smoke coming from her armor, and in the distance DK's badly burned body crashed into the water.

"Sorry, DK...But you asked for it." Samus said.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Link, Ike, and Roy charged right for Micaiah, who stood her ground and assumed a sideways stance. Before the trio was within atacking range though the Black Knight stepped between the two groups.

"Your opponent is me. I shall not let the Priestess of Dawn be harmed." The Black Knight declared before bringing his sword down. A giant wave of blue energy erupted from the sword and headed for the trio. Ike, Roy, and Link dived to the sides to avoid the attack, and Link countered with a wave of light from his own sword.

"I haven't gone all out in a while." Link warned the enigmatic general.

"I wish I didn't have to return Ragnell to the Empress of Begnion." Ike sighed, "After I got back she declared the sword a national treasure and I had no choice but to return it."

"So that means we may not be able to hurt him?" Link asked, shocked.

"I think we could hurt him before because his dark powers diluted the holy protection his armor offered him but this time is different. The only thing that can hurt him right now is Ragnell."

"So we can't win this fight, right?" Link asked, disheartened.

"That looks to be the case." Ike affirmed Link's fears.

"Stop talking and fight." The Black Knight said, "You'll get nowhere with words. Here, we speak with swords."

"The plan was to just delay them anyways." Ike whispered. He and Link charged and blocked the Black Knight's second attack just in time before he could send out another wave. While they were stuck in the blade lock, Ike and Link started crumpling under the pressure.

"When did this guy get so strong?" Link grunted.

"ROY! We need help!" Ike yelped, "Roy, where are you!?"

"He's right there." Link said suddenly, in a slightly ominous voice.

"Huh?" Ike asked, turning around, trying to find the pyro swordsman. They finally spotted him right where he landed when he jumped out of the way of the Black Knight's first attack.

He was just standing there with his mouth hanging open. He was staring at the Black Knight with his arms limp at his side, his left hand's grip barely enough to hold his weapon.

"Roy?"

Roy's right eye suddenly twitched and he lost his grip on the Sword of Seals completely. After that last twitch, he lost control of his muscles and he just stood there, twitching in the wind.

"Uh....I have a feeling now we oughta just....get _really really _far away from here." Link said. By now the blade lock had completely relaxed because the whole fight had stopped. Somehow Roy was drawing everybody's uneasy attention. The hylian knight grabbed Ike by his collar and slowly pulled him away from the Black Knight, but before long they were sprinting away for all their legs were worth.

Roy twitching wasn't what drew everybody's attention though. It was his right arm, which slowly but surely rose up until his index finger was pointed right at the Black Knight. When his arm stopped, so did all his shaking, and his blank expression went from empty to angry, to burning rage.

"YOU." Was the only word Roy could make out before his body burst into flame.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Paul: I don't have much to say but feel free to interpret Roy's explosion however ya please. XD**

**Roy: Oh noez! IMONFIRE! SOMEBODYPLEASEPUTMEOUT!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Shiek: Crap! He's gonna set the whole stage on fire if we let him run around like that!**

**Ike: Don't look at me!**

**Paul: Uh oh. Better get this fixed fast! See you awesome reader folks later!**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-  
**


	69. The Reawakening of Roy

**-Chapter XXXXXXIX-**

**-The Reawakening of Roy-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"YOU........." Roy shouted imperiously, "....I remember everything now! Everything I've done, everything that's happened, all the trouble I've caused....All the trouble my friends have gone through to protect me and countless others!"

"..."

"I understand that this will confuse you..." Roy continued, "But from my time, you should be dead. My brain's telling me that everything that has happened thus far isn't a figment of my imagination, which brings me a bit of grief but that isn't important! The point is...

I don't trust you! You have to be up to something!"

"Sir Knight? Of what is he speaking?" Micaiah asked worriedly.

"This is merely the prattling of a madman." The Black Knight assured her.

"No, it isn't!" Roy shouted, "Prepare yourself fiend! Today, you're going down and STAYIN' DOWN!"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"GAH! Just die and leave me alone!" Eggman shouted in annoyance. He was standing in a cylindrical machine shaped like an elevator that was suspended from the ceiling. He was currently struggling to keep his hands on the controls of his machine while stamping on Bowser's claws, which were currently clinging to the edge of the basket. Sparks were flying everywhere as the bottom of the machine dragged across a gigantic conveyor belt.

"Stop that!" Sonic complained, holding a glove in front of his face to keep sparks from burning his face. Eggman finally kicked the King of Koopas free of his contraption and released the pressure on the bottom of his machine. Bowser's body knocked everybody over as they were trying to run towards Eggman on the conveyor belt, and they all got pushed into a door embedded with spikes.

"YOWCH!"

"YOSHI!"

"PICHU!!!!"

Rings flew everywhere and decorated the entire room. After touching the spikes the smashers were repelled and scattered every which way like the rings did before them.

"STAY OFF THE CONVEYOR BELT IF YOU CAN'T KEEP UP WITH IT!" Everybody shouted as they slapped Bowser in the face at the same time.

"I have to admit this is pathetic." Eggman frowned.

"YOU STAY OUTTA THIS!" Sonic threatened.

"Fine I get it already!" Bowser whined. The Koopa King waddled off while hanging his head in a depressed manner. When he stuck his head in one of the corners, a cloud of gloom descended on him.

"Now that that is settled, let's REALLY start this!" Sonic said.

Eggman scoffed and stuck his lips out in a pompous manner. "If you're so tough then let's see what you have, bigshot!"

"Bring it on!" Sonic said. Eggman threw the switch in his cockpit again and the conveyor belt accelerated. Sonic continued running, and kept himself out of Eggman's range of attack while staying a safe distance from the spikes. Everybody else was very very slowly getting closer to the spikes, despite them running for all they were worth.

"BWA HA HA! Now I have you!" Eggman said, flipping another switch he had. A little door on his machine opened near the ceiling, and out of it came a claw on a rail. It was carrying a spiky mine.

"Jump over that as soon as it explodes!" Sonic warned tensely.

"Yoshi!"

Eggman grinned evily before releasing the bomb, right in front of Sonic. He effortlessly jumped over it, but the second the bomb touched the conveyor belt it burst into four smaller spiked balls, which spread out in an umbrella shape. Sonic accidentally stepped on one upon his landing and lost his rings, and the other three spiky balls were tossed into the group of smashers. More rings flew all over the place.

"OW!" Matt yelped.

"THAT HURTS!" Ness complained loudly.

"BWA HA HA HA!" Eggman chortled. His machine suddenly shook and lowered a bit. He panicked and looked over the edge, only to see another layer of his machine had worn away. Now his footing was getting unbearably hot. He started dancing all over his cockpit to keep the heat away from his feet, and even did some break dancing, but none of it helped in the long run.

Bowser was sitting in the corner while all this was happening, and some of the rings happened to touch him. His count went to just above ten, enough for an attack. He felt the energy, and it cheered him up a tiny bit. He turned his head away from the corner to see everybody struggling against Eggman, who didn't seem to be having a good time anymore either. Then, the idea smacked him.

It was SOO obvious.

He quickly made his way to the side of the machine, and when he reached it Eggman gave him a baleful look.

"What are you doing?" He asked nervously.

"This." Bowser replied before hosing the bottom of Eggman's machine with fresh fire. It quickly heated up and got softer, to the point where Eggman tried doing hand stands on the railing of his machine to get away from the heat. Suddenly the whole structure came down and crashed on the conveyor belt, which kept going at top speed. Everybody saw the hunk of junk coming at them and dived off the belt to watch Eggman go sailing past the, screaming from his trapped position in his machine. It crashed into the wall of spikes and exploded, but not before Eggman somehow managed to get his fat butt out of it. While everybody was choking from the smoke the mad doctor high-tailed it out of the area and ran off into the next zone.

"*Cough* *Cough* DARN IT. He got away again!" Matt coughed.

"Nice work there Bowser!" Sonic said, giving Bowser a thumbs up. Bowser scratched his head sheepishly, and the team headed out of the opening from which Eggman's machine slid away from. Behind that gate lay the next zone, the Wacky Workbench.

And the team only had one more Time Stone to obtain before they had them all.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Roy! You can't beat him!" Link yelled from far away. "Our weapons won't pierce his armor anymore!"

It bounced right off the ex-pyromaniac's skull.

"Fight me!" Roy demanded, holding his flaming sword with two hands.

"Stand aside, Priestess, while I deal with this fool." The Black Knight said, gently urging Micaiah to stand back. She obliged, and after she was a good distance back he cocked his sword arm, and strode out to meet his opponent. While he camly and ominously walked towards Roy, the pheraen noble went into an all out dash, yelling all the way. He swung his sword when he was about thirty feet away from the BK and launched a huge arc of flame. The BK spun in a circle and launched an equally powerful wave to dispel the first. Roy pounced like a tiger and cut his way through the cloud of sparks and crashed into the knight head on. Steel sang when it collided, and despite Roy's near maniacal barrage of attacks the knight matched him blow for blow even with all his heavy armor.

Roy tried attacking one more time but was thwarted yet again. He then feinted an attack, and while the BK swung his sword to counter Roy assumed a counter stance and took the blow. He managed to deflect the attack and absorb its energy, then he rammed his sword into the BK. "COUNTER!" Roy roared. His sword caused a hot explosion the moment it hit the knight, and the explosion actually lifted him off his feet and sent him flying into the air. Somehow he managed to land on his feet again but as he landed Roy was already on top of him.

"Flare Flade!" Roy yelled. He released the attack and brought his white hot sword down. Just as it almost hit the Black Knight used his free hand to grab the sword. The energy instantly faded, and while Roy was still shocked he slammed the flat of Alondite into his chest and sent him spinning away like a rag. He rolled across the grass and came to a stop, coughing hard and holding his badly bruised chest.

"Your friends warned you this would happen." The Black Knight said as he picked Roy up by the scruff of his neck. "Now, experience your own attack. Reciprocate." His black gauntleted hand shone white for a moment before a huge explosion covered the immediate area. Roy flew out of the explosion badly burned, and crashed into the ground once more. "It would appear that there is no way that you will learn this lesson normally, so let me teach it to you...the hard way."

"*Cough*.....I'd rather not." Roy mumbled weakly. "I can't give up...."

"Don't take this personally." The Black Knight said. "Eclipse!"

"ROY!" Ike shouted.

The Black Knight took a step forward as his sword turned slightly transparent, then he slashed Roy right through the chest. Roy jerked in extreme pain and staggered backwards, and the knight advanced again to strike once more. He struck three more times and for the final blow, he spun the sword around, flexed his arm, and with incredible effort swung his sword harder than before. The blow affected Roy physically and literally sent him flying. He pirouetted through the air, flipping over his head a few times, before he finally landed on his back. He skidded across the ground and left a large furrow. The Black Knight just stood there quietly, looking at his defeated opponent from the impenetrable darkness within his helmet.

After a long, loud silence, the Black Knight turned his back on Roy. "....Don't worry. I didn't hit his vitals."

Suddenly a long and loud trumpet blast echoed throughout the area, and the Daein army collectively jumped with surprise. Ranulf burst from the woods near where Marth vanished, and waved to Ike. "We did it!"

"Excellent!" Ike yelled back, "....We enjoyed the battle but now we have to fly. Don't take it personally." Ike said, while flashing a rare smile. He grabbed Roy and draped his battered body over his shoulder. The Smashers and the Greil Mercenaries then fled towards where Ranulf waited for them. While running in that direction Samus grabbed Marth's ice sword and within moments they were gone without a trace.

"Shall we pursue them? A Daein soldier asked a flustered Micaiah.

"No....We'll never catch them at this rate." Micaiah sighed.

_Outsmarted by the best. Commander Ike certainly lives up to his reputation._

Sothe just placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and helped her get back to camp. That strange weariness was coming back again...

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Wacky? Naw........THIS PLACE IS FREAKING INSANE!!!" Bowser bellowed angrily.

Indeed it was. The whole floor was made of a strange material, that when an electric current ran through it instantly reversed the momentum of anything that touched it. If somebody fell from fifty feet and landed on it while it was on, they'd bounce back up those same fifty feet to their starting position. That was exactly the case. The team fell through a trap door just a few moments before, and were now sailing through the air of the fifth zone.

It looked like a gigantic warehouse inside the zone. The ceiling was made of sheet metal and was held up by navy blue metal girders, and any structure inside that zone that wasn't decorated with odd machines showed that same blue metal. It was a veritable mountain range of specialized machinery, anything from espresso makers to vents that expelled supercooled coolant into the atmosphere.

An ice block with Sonic inside hurtled past Matt, to whom Bowser was complaining. Sonic smacked into the checker floor that bounced stuff away and rose back into the air, where Pichu zapped the ice off him.

"Thanks!" Sonic shouted as soon as he was free. "Those jets of ice almost always surprise me."

"Have you ever tried staying away from big openings stuck in the ceiling and walls!?" Ness asked, exasperated. Yoshi made some random noises.

"I can't see how I ever got around being this...this round!" Sonic protested, pointing at his younger and fatter body.

"At least you grow out of it." Matt said, "I have losing my left arm to look forward to. Do you know how weird this is!?"

"Don't even get started on that." Bowser growled, "Let's do what we came here for. We only have one Time stone left to get, and if Matt's right we should get our powers back after that. It would also make sense to crush Metal Sonic as soon as that opportunity arises."

"Wow, looks like Bowser's the man with the plan now, huh." Sonic said.

"I'm only repeating what you idiots already decided." Bowser huffed, "I'm having fourth thoughts about coming here with you guys."

"Been doing a lot of thinking I see." Ness said.

"You stuff it." Bowser said.

"Awright that's enough." Matt said. "We only need one more Time Stone before we have all of them, and this is the fifth zone out of seven."

"So it's crucial we get the time stones back before we reach him." Ness said, "In our current state defeating us would be easy!"

"Exactly." Matt said, "That's a risk we can't take. Ever. So after we get the last time stone, regardless of what powers we get from the stones we have to beat Eggman here again, and get to the Stardust Speedway and defeat Metal Sonic once and for all."

"Yoshi."

"Yes I know. First we have to get our next Time Stone...which is about 30 rings away." Matt said, kinda stunned. "....Hey, Where'd Pichu go?"

Suddenly Pichu popped up. "Pi Pichu!"

"WHUT!?" Bowser asked.

"'I was running around collecting rings while you lazy idiots talked about your plans instead of doing them."' Matt translated, slapping his face while he did so.

"Pichu!"

"Don't rub it it." Matt sighed, "Let's go get the rest of those rings before Bowser goes and loses them again."

"HEY!" Bowser yelled.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The Laguz alliance moved swiftly. Even though things didn't go as planned and the whole alliance was on the run, things weren't a total loss for the Smashers. They'd located Marth, DK, and Aliana, and Roy recovered his senses....even if it was only to get his butt handed to him.

To Roy, his body stank of epic fail....and burns. Lots of burns.

It didn't bother him much, but that merchant, Muston, couldn't be happy with his scent of burnt flesh stinking up his supply wagon. Thank goodness he was here. Because of him, he had a bed, (sort of. A blanket on top of a pile of weapons.) a place where he could rest and not bruden his friends.

..........................The Black Knight.

Roy closed his eyes, and his memory wandered to the river, where the hazy world suddenlt went crystal clear....Only to go hazy again. The only thing that stood out was that Black Knight! He was dead, Roy was sure of it.

He'd watched Link defeat him. Back at Dhaos' castle. There was nothing left but his sword, and that even was split in half.

That same sword passed through his chest like a ghost five times, and ripped his innards to shreds. If it wasn't for his dragon genes, he'd have died. Any normal human would have perished from such an attack, but that inner flame of his kept burning even as his body failed. He wasn't going to let anybody defeat him like that, ever. He'd walk away from it to come back one day, stronger and better than before. He was going to get through that armor, and he was going to kill that evil man inside.

That morning on the river, he smelled it. It was a madness almost as strong as his, and even then he still...seemed normal. That man, whoever he was, was driven, and that day at the river, Roy could tell....His hunger was unbearable, but it couldn't be satiated yet. No...the time wasn't right.

Even now he could still feel that hunger inside himself. It was the same thing that, even now, kept Roy alive. A desire to prove that he was the best.

And the only person the Black Knight had any ties to before was....Ike.

_So that's what I felt back in the castle. _Roy thought._ His disappointment before he died. He never got to fight Ike._

_But we'll see him again. It's only a matter of time before Ike has to battle him again, and he better have Ragnell by then. No, the Black Knight won't fight us again until Ike has Ragnell. I know it._

"Hey there, airhead." Link said, poking his head into the wagon. "You awake? Oh, who am I kidding."

"You're not kidding anybody." Roy said, sitting up with a grunt. "I'm sane again."

"HEY." Link said, pushing him back down on his back, "If you move with wounds like that, you'll die. Even after Lyon used up a whole Recover staff on you."

"So that's what that tickling feeling was." Roy mumbled. He briefly recalled hearing voices, lots of shouting....... "Ike stepped on Lyon's foot didn't he?" Roy asked.

"Yep. Ike's still recovering from being whacked on the head." Link shrugged, "It seems Lyon has one heck of an arm."

"But he's so skinny." Roy said.

"Yes, so he is." Link said, ".....Any particular reason you almost got yourself killed today?"

Roy lay there....and when he thought about it, there really wasn't THAT good of a reason.

"Weeeeeeeeeeell........." Roy started saying. "How should I put it. The Black Knight should be dead, right? I felt like I did a crappy job of fighting him the first time. I suppose I tried making up for being an idiot. Oh yeah...."

"What?" Link asked. He could tell Roy was just bursting to say something.

"I think Ike's in danger." Roy said.

"Naw ya think? We all are." Link said.

"....I could smell it." Roy said, quietly, "That Black Knight....He seems like he's just another man inside an indestructible suit of armor, but I could smell his madness. He was consumed."

"...Really?"

"Yeah. Like I was when I fought him. He wants to fight Ike, and prove he's a better swordsman than him."

"But Ike doesn't have Ragnell." Link said, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, and he knew that. It was taking all of his will power not to kill Ike." Roy said. "So....we won't see him again. Not until Ike gets Ragnell back."

"How do you know?" Link said.

"'Cause he'll lose it if he meets Ike again before then." Roy said.

"And you say you could smell his insanity?" Link asked, skeptical.

"Yeah, kind of a bitter, hot smell." Roy said scrunching his nose like something smelled bad, "Hot like spicy stuff. It burned my nose. And before you ask, maybe it has something to do with my heritage."

"Your Dragon genes." Link said, nodding his head, "I guess I see what you mean."

"Gimme a night or two, and I'll be strong enough to fight the Black Knight again." Roy said.

"NO." Link said.

"I know, there's no way I can beat him." Roy sighed.

"...Besides." Link said, "We ran into Marth again today."

"Yeah I know." Roy said, "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to him."

Link kinda grimaced. "With the way things were going today, I doubt that would have changed. Even if you had been sane I doubt he had it on his mind to talk. He was under a lot of stress."

"Yeah he refused to fight for either side. that's a first."

"Weeeeell...Anyways, everybody's wondering how you're doing." Link said, grinning, "I suppose this is appropriate....but..."

"WELCOME BACK!" Fox, Luigi, Lyon, Samus, Ike, and Marth shouted along with Link. Everybody else threw the back covers of the wagon over to greet him, surprise birthday style.

"Wow! Hey everybody!" Roy said, smiling widely, "...And Marth! The heck are you doing here?"

"Uh....I kinda got caught by the Laguz Alliance when I was honorably retreating." Marth said, "Link instantly recognized me and offered to keep an eye on me so it looks like I'm a prisoner."

"Yup. I got my eye on you." Samus said playfully.

"...I'd rather you NOT do that." Marth suddenly scowled as he inched away from here.

"Aw come on I'm not going to shoot missiles at you." Samus said.

"LIES!"

Marth bolted off suddenly, and Samus chased after him with guns blazing.

"YEAH I DO SUPPOSE IT IS A LIE NOW ISN'T IT!" Samus shouted as she chased him. "DANCE MARTHA, DANCE DANG IT!"

"HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

"DANCE LIKE YOUR FREAKING LIFE DEPENDS ON IT! DANG I'VE WANTED TO DO THIS FOR A LONG TIME!!!"

"....................................................Oh my gosh." Roy said, when the fireworks subsided, "She hasn't been like that in forever."

"I guess it's her way of saying I missed you." Fox said, looking uneasy. "....Not that I would like to be greeted like that, heck no!"

"Samus is Samus." Link said simply, "She'll be the way she has always been. Considering what she's going through at the moment, it's good to see her acting normal for once."

"I agree." Roy said as he lay back down on his crappy makeshift bed. "I'd rather my friend Marth didn't have to deal with it but oh well. At least I'm not suffering the same fate."

"You heartless fiend!" Marth shouted as he ran past the wagon.

"GET BACK HERE. I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"There's the ring!" Matt said.

"DON'T LOSE THE RINGS!!!" Ness screamed.

"I'M TRYIN I'M TRYIN!" Bowser yelled back.

"I'm there!" Sonic cheered. He jumped into the ring, and was soon followed by everybody else.

The dimension they were in now looked like a metal island surrounded by an ocean of acid green water. Up in the green sky there was a red mood type object, and it seemed there were alien buildings rising above the green ocean.

"This place is weird." Bowser said uneasily.

"Usually there's UFOs here....but where are they?" Sonic asked. "And that blasted timer's still-wait, not it isn't running."

"............Does anybody else have a bad feeling about this?" Matt asked, worried.

"Yes. A Very BAD ONE!!! INCOMING!" Ness screamed again, pointing at a gigantic UFO. The team all panicked and scattered as fast as they could, and the UFO slammed into the ground hard enough to make them fall. It rose back into the air with an ominous whirr, and with that, the battle for the last Time Stone began.

"Collect rings and gather energy to attack while I distract it!" Sonic said as he took off. Surprisingly it did what he wanted and followed after him. Everybody stared at him for a moment.

"...Well, you heard the guy! LET'S DO IT!" Bowser said, running off.

"Missed me!" Sonic yelled, running around in a zig-zag while avoiding lasers that the UFO fired at him. Usually they just retreated, but this one was out for blood. Sonic kept running for all he was worth, until he found a spring pad. He braked so the UFO was just above him when he touched it. It sent him flying up into the air hard enough to leave a dent in the bottom of the machine. It was tougher than the other UFO's too!

"Owch!" Sonic said, rubbing his head as he touched down on the ground again.

Now the smashers had all the rings the stage had to offer, just over a hundred.

"Ok! We have a hundred rings to spend!" Ness said, "Let's spend them wiseley!"

"Here goes ten of them!" Bowser said, "BRAWWWWHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He spewed a huge fireball at the UFO just as Sonic led it towards them. The UFO seemed to also be stupider than the others, and the fireball slammed right into it. The blow made it spin in the air and burn a red hot color. Yoshi used 5 rings to throw some eggs at it, and then Pichu fired a bolt of lightning at it. Matt jumped towards Bowser who cupped his hands and tossed the genius into the air towards the UFO. Matt used a strong downwards kick on it as soon as he was within range. It went down like a rock, where Ness blasted it with a fully charged PK Flash that stopped its fall.

"Now, for the finishing blow!" Sonic said. "Speed boost!" He took off running around the UFO and made a twister around it that made it spin uncontrollably. While it was occupied he stopped underneath it and used every last remaning ring for a strong attack.

"HOMING LIGHT SPEED DASH!" Sonic said. He jumped and pierced the UFO right through the middle, and came out holding the red time stone, the last one. The UFO shook a moment before exploding, and Sonic landed holding the blood red stone in his hands. It started reacting to the other stones they had in their possession, and in a flash, their normal forms were restored and they were back in the Wacky Workbench.

"Wahoo! We're normal again!" Pichu screamed with delight.

"I never thought I'd miss my metal arm!" Matt said, kissing it. Sonic rubbed his skinny body with glee and took off running and break dancing all over the place, saying "I'm me again!"

"Now that we're back to normal, I say we blow this taco stand!" Bowser said.

"If it were a taco stand I'd rather have tacos!" Yoshi said, rubbing his tummy.

"We can't stop now everybody!" Sonic said, back to his cool self, "We're that close from escaping from here. Now that we have the time stones, this world plays by OUR rules!"

"YEAH!" Everybody cheered, jumping into the air.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

In the zone known as Stardust speedway, Metal Sonic was twitching, and his red eyes were flickering on and off.

Inside his mind, assuming it could be classified as one, a constant stream of data was flooding his processors and overloading them. he couldn't pick up much of it, but as the data continued streaming in...One thing was certain.

Those strangers, the smashers....He loathed them.

Especially Matt.

"...Lord Dhaos...If you will still have me...I will be your servant once more!" Metal Sonic said, "I'll bring you Matthew Wedell's head so that I may regain your favor! Nay! I shall bring you all their heads!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**OH MY GOSH OH NOEZ.**

**I have nothing else to say. :p I hope you guys enjoyed! I'll update again soon enough so i'll see ya later!**

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**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-  
**


	70. Time Goes Marching On

**-Chapter XXXXXXX-**

**-Time Goes Marching On-**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

"How do these things happen again?" Link remembered asking irritably.

Earlier, they were forced to escape into a really dangerous cave to escape from the Begnion army, which was now really hot on their heels.

_"These caves are a deathtrap!" Ranulf yelled._

_"Yes, but knowing our enemy, they'll think we're suicidal if we enter." Soren replied._

_"It's a risk we'll have to take." Ike said._

_"Nuh uh!" Link said, "We may be some of the strongest fighters ever, but just one mistake and if we fall in the lava, POOF!"_

_"Lava? What? What the heck are you talking about!?" Roy could be heard asking in a voice torn between interest and apprehension._

_"the chances of the Begnion Central Army following us in are slim." Soren explained, "but, if they do send in some soldiers it will most likely be forces they consider to be expendable."_

_"Isn't that how they always treat their soldiers?" Samus asked._

_"Shush." A burnt and beaten Marth insisted._

Link couldn't help but chuckle. Poor Marth. Samus caught up to him last night and didn't hesitate to waste half her missiles on him.

_"You're still as tough as a cockroach. Good. I wouldn't have it any other way." Samus said, removing her helmet and blowing smoke off her arm cannon._

_"...And by the way, Welcome back Prince Marth."_

"It's soooooo hot...." Lyon moaned, holding his head.

"Ughhhhhhh......" Fox said, joining him in a chorus of "ughs" and "ahhs"

"Could you pansies please quit moaning and groaning like a bunch of zombies?" Samus asked.

"Zombies? I take offense to that!" Lyon protested.

"You're one to talk." Fox retorted, "You have Air Conditioning inside your suit, and I have a coat of fur all over my body in addition to clothing!"

"Then strip it off and shave your hair." Samus said, shrugging indifferently.

"NO." Fox shouted back.

"...They scare me." Luigi said, wide eyed. He was walking alongside Link.

"They have that affect sometimes, yes." Link absentmindedly replied. He didn't rest very well last night because he had another nightmare. Once again he felt trapped in the darkness and had to watch as his friends vanished when he approached them, and it wasn't until after all of them dissappeared that it happened.

He remembered running around, shouting his friend's names, begging them to come back, when he saw his dark shadow appear in front of him. He remembered seeing those red eyes look right into his, and even though there was no light he knew Dark Link was smiling at him.

Dark Link slowly approached him, and when he was a few steps away...he spread his arms out and hugged Link. Then suddenly Link felt like he was made of mist. He was then solid once more, but no....it wasn't the same as before. He was looking at himself from Dark Link's eyes, and watched as his own eyes turned white. He took a step back and watched himself transform in Fierce Deity Link. He turned to run, but the double helix sword materialized in his hands and felt incredible pain as he experienced what felt like being slashed in half. He woke up and felt the sharp edge of a sword in his side, and he was sleeping in the wagon near Roy. Roy was sleeping peacefully, drooling on his blanket.

That same side, he held now. He had bandaged it properly and applied some Red Potion to the wound directly to prevent infection and speed up the healing process. It was still raw, though. It was a pretty deep cut...He didn't enjoy explaining to Muston why his cart was crimson. For a moment the merchant had thought Roy bled to death.

It was going to take more than a lot of bleeding to take Link down, but at the moment...he felt rather faint...

"Are you feeling alright?" Ike asked him, "You look really pale."

"I think I'm alright...I slept on a sword by accident...and I didn't get much sleep." Link sighed.

"I don't think I would have gotten much sleep either." Ike grimaced. "Why are you even standing right now? You shouldn't be moving with a wound like that."

"What doesn't kill me....I don't care about." Link said.

"Isn't anybody gonna ask about me?" Marth asked, looking hurt.

"OH, SUCK IT UP LIKE A MAN!" Everybody shouted at him with angry faces.

"Fine then, be that way." Marth huffed.

"INCOMING!" A laguz soldier shouted, "The lookouts spotted the Begnion Army! They're closing in on us!"

"Well, you heard the man!" Ike bellowed, "Follow the plan! The wounded and disabled, escape the cave! Me and my mercenaries will hold them off!"

"And the Smashers too!" Samus yelled, bonking Marth on his head with her gun for no reason at all. Marth got back up to his feet, muttering bitterly all the way.

"Yeah, all of you get as far way from here as you can!" Link shouted, "Things are gonna heat up here!"

"LAME JOKE!" Fox and Lyon shouted, slapping him.

"Here they come!" Ike warned, "Greil Mercenaries, CHARGE!"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"WAHOO!" Matt cheered. He was jumping up into the air and tapping his heels, while Sonic, Ness, Pichu, and Yoshi break danced everywhere. Bowser was hopping on one foot and dancing that way.

"I'M SKINNY AGAIN!" Sonic shouted one last time. "Whew...Ok, we've wasted enough time."

"Yeah we need to get back on track, and finish this." Matt chuckled.

"....Uh...Guys?" Ness asked.

"Yeah?"

"...That timer thing was running during our party." Ness said, shocked.

"...WHAT!?!?" Everybody shouted.

"Yep. We have just one minute left." Ness said, matter-of-factly.

"But we don't have enough lives left to be able to afford all of us dying!" Matt nearly screamed.

"It'll be a game over!" Yoshi yelled, "...Whatever that means."

"RUN!" Sonic panicked.

They were still at the beginning of the second half of the Wacky Workbench Zone, and standing on what could be described as a dock. It was in an enclosed hallway with the bouncy floor beneath them. Out in front of them lay the rest of the zone...

"RUN!" Sonic repeated. The team then went into a mad dash toward the end of the platform, and jumped right into the thick of a field of bouncing platforms. They were bouncing off the floor, and being under one of them when it hit the ground meant a life would be lost...

BROOOOOOP!!! The floor pinged as Sonic hit it first, still running. He soared into the air, right into the middle of a bunch of the platforms. he wall kicked off the sides of them and kept his vertical motion going, and reached the highest area nearby. From there he jumped into what looked like a suspended bridge/walkway, and took off down it. The rest of the team was hopping skillfully across the bouncing platforms, and made it to an area just below where Sonic was.

"He's up there!" Ness pointed at a blue blur.

"Then step on it!" Matt said, "If we can't keep up with him then we don't stand a chance!"

"Got it!" Bowser said, "Stand aside!" Ahead of them were a bunch of Eggman's leftover robots. Bowser used his Whirling Fortress attack to blaze his way right through them, and when they reached another wall he blasted it with his stone breath and then punched his way through. They popped out of a room that was suspended over the bouncy floor, and ahead of them was a rather large open area littered with lightning charged nets, sticky poles, and the odd platform floating here and there. Not to mention the ubiquitous bouncy platforms and baddies.

"Go go GO!" Sonic yelled from above. He jumped towards one of the sticky poles and ran around on it to gather momentum before kicking off of it and kicking off platforms to get across the area

"This calls for desperate measures." Matt said as lightning started crackling around his body. He crouched and then jumped into the air, and in a burst of static lightning his clothes charged to a grey and yellow color scheme, he had a cap on his head backwards, and he had a snowboard-like device in his hands. He tossed it out in front of him and it levitated above the ground.

"Bowser,geton." Matt said hyper fast.

"What?" Bowser asked, confused.

"IsaidGETON!" Matt yelled. He grabbed the Koopa King and slammed him on the front of the board, and it extended a bit. "Getoneverybody!" Matt said, waving fast. They obliged and got right on, and Matt took off across the room. He expertly handled his Extreme Gear, which is what his board was. "Bowser,punchthroughthewallsaswereachthemyouhearme?" Matt said.

"I think so!" Bowser said, confused. He readjusted his stance just as they approached the first wall, and threw a powerful punch at the wall. What he didn't expect to happen was his fist growing and turning into a boulder. They blew through the wall like it was made of tin foil, and Bowser could only stare at his hand in stupifying shock as it went back to normal.

Just nearby Sonic was kicking off another platform, but Matt maneuvered the board so Sonic could land on it.

"Nice catch, Matt!" Sonic winked.

"Stoptalkingsoslow!" Matt complained. "Keepyoureyeonthose!" He said, pointing at a swarm of Eggman's robots flying towards them.

"Awright! Sheesh!" Sonic said. Matt then aimed the board towards the other walls in front of them and made it shoot forward again. While Bowser wound up his new and devastating Golem Punch, Matt took his metal arm and turned it into a small, high caliber machine gun and started shooting a stream of photons at the baddies with deadly accuracy. Ness fired a few PK Thunders at them which Pichu and Yoshi followed up with a few blasts of lightning and eggs. Bowser tore another hole through the next wall, this time his fist was even bigger than before. It shattered upon impact and sprayed pebbles everywhere.

"Bowser, are you ok?" Yoshi asked when Bowser held his arm. It was back to normal sized and reforming from the jagged leftovers of the fist.

"Yeah. It hurt a bit but I think I'm ok." Bowser said, seriously. "Keep going, Matt!"

"Awright." matt replied, taking the sky board towards a large next of the lightning charged structures. He made his way through the maze of danger at a rediculously fast pace, and the robots chasing them were fried when they clumsily bounced off the wires. A few moments later they were on the other side in another open space. Matt just plasted right through, and passed through what looked like an open tower top. They zipped down a hallway, at the end of which they could see a signpost.

"Just three more seconds!!!" Ness shouted, bug-eyed.

Matt crouched and focused more of his energy into the board, and with just half a second left plowed right into it and made it spin. It made that satisfying spinning noise when the area was cleared. Upon Impact Matt lost his focus and returned to normal. The board vanished and the spinning sign swatted everybody and scattered them.

"Oops." Matt mumbled, holding his head. "I need to practice that form more. Ow."

"I'll say!" Pichu said.

Sonic had his eyes shut, and his fists clenched.

"You're not gonna die. We made it in time." Bowser said, "That was a thrill, wasn't it?"

"Yeah....Not really." Matt said, looking bored, "It felt like an hour."

"Ok!" Sonic said, getting up and dusting himself off, "Let's finish this last area. We're almost a few footsteps away from the Stardust Speedway, really."

"We're so close!" Yoshi cheered.

"I wonder if Eggman's changed any." Pichu said.

"I dunno." Matt said, "There's no telling which Eggman is the past or present one..."

"Then let's go confront him."Bowser said, "We'll know when we see what he looks like."

"Aye." Matt said, "Let's get this over with, everybody."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The battle was getting really intense.

The soldiers Begnion sent into the caves were actually pretty good, Link thought. Either that...or his measly wound was worse than he thought. He used his shield bash to deflect a spear one of the enemy Halberdiers thrusted at him, and with his Master Sword he slashed clean through the man's armor and rendered him incapable of moving.

"Don't move, and that wound won't kill you." Link hurriedly said, before fighting more. Ike was fighting with terrifying power. He was using an Armorslayer, and incredibly heavy and sharp sword. With it he was taking down Generals and Knights with just single blows.

"Watch Out!" Lyon shouted. He dropped the flux spell he was casting and raised his Barrier Staff. a blue veil appeared around Ike in time to deflect the majority of the dark magic that suddenly struck it.

"They brought Dark Mages!?" Marth asked, "They have Dark mages here on Tellius!?"

"I've only seen that kind of magic once!" Ike said, apprehensive, "A few days ago there was a Druid at the Senator's camp we burned to the ground."

"Yeah, well you have me." Lyon said determinedly, "I'll show them!"

"Don't overdo it." Samus warned shooting a few carefully aimed laser blasts at the foes. "Focus on the normal fighters, Fox and I can handle the druids."

"Fine." Lyon said.

"Quake Laser!" Fox said. He once more focused his energy from his staff into his gun, and with three shots stunned the druids. Samus then locked onto them and fired lightning charged missiles. The resulting blasts took out the druids and any soldiers that were near them.

"They still keep coming." Marth said, as more Druids glided in like ghosts. He took his powerful ice blade and struck the ground, which sent a wave of sharp icicles at the soldiers. Quite a few of them were puctured by the spikes but for the most part they avoided the attack. When they got close, Marth elegantly avoided their attacks and blocked with his sword. Just touching his sword, their weapons froze and the ice spread to their bodies. When they became too many and Marth felt cramped, he shattered the ice and scattered it.

"Do you ahve to kill them like that!?" Link shouted as he fought soldiers off furiously.

"My weapon isn't as merciful as yours." Marth said, using his counter strike on a man with a giant silver axe. "I can't control its ice powers here in this heat, it won't obey me, and I could barely control it before!"

"Then use Falcion!" Link said.

"I don't have it with me!" Marth protested, "It's at the mansion!"

"WHAT!?" Link yelped, "Seriously? I wonder if it's still there."

"I hid it well. It should be." Marth replied.

"Jump!" Fox ordered as he and Samus flew into the fray. Link and Marth bounded towards the roof of the cave and Fox landed and stuck his pear in the ground.

"Static Quake!" Fox cried. He stuck his staff into the earth and caused a larg localized quake, which knocked all the soldiers in the area over. He did a handstand on the staff then flipped off of it and into the air just as Samus caught it with her Grapple Beam. She braced herself and fired a huge pulse of lightning into the staff, which amplified it and fused it with the remainder of the quake magic Fox stored in it. It sent a circular pulse of lightning through the ground that shocked all the stunned soldiers laying on the ground, and defeated them.

Link, Marth, and Fox all landed safely on the ground, and Samus retracted her grapple beam.

"...Where's Luigi and Lyon?" Fox asked.

"Over heeere!" Luigi yelled from the ceiling. He was holding onto the tip of a stalactite, and below him stood Lyon....Extra crispy.

"You idiot! I said Jump! Clear as day!" Fox raised his eyebrows while giving a rather sarcastic chuckle.

"I didn't know you were going to do something like THAT." Lyon protested.

"Them's the breaks!" Link said, "If you're going to stay with the team, expect the unexpected!"

"OH MY GODESSES!" Somebody shouted. The smashers turned to see a Begnion general litterally quaking in his boots.

"General Septimus! Get ahold of yourself!!!" One of his aides shouted.

"THEY'RE DEMONS! DEMONS! THEY'RE CLEARLY AFTER ME!" Septimus wailed, running in circles and sobbing, "I'm gonna die!!!"

The smashers anime-fainted.

"Reinforcements are on the way!" One of the druids guarding him said, but his words went unheard.

"Hear that?" Ike asked as he approached the group, "Now would be the time to beat them if we want to dissapear."

"Yeah I agree." Link said. "I've been wanting to try this a while...Stand Back."

"What are you going to do?" Samus asked.

"New attack I've been wanting to try. Din's Fire and a bomb." Link said, pulling out an ordinary bomb.

"...If you guys need me, I'll be far over here." Marth said quietly.

"I'll join you." Ike agreed.

All of the smashers fled while Link focused fire magic into his bomb, and during the process, he pulled out an arrow and stuck it in the outer casing of the explosive. The druids and some of the elite soldiers protecting the pathetic general started rushing after him, but now Link was pulling out his bow and aiming the super bomb arrow at Septimus.

"Din's Judgement!!" Link said. He left the magical arrow loose and it streaked over the heads of the soldiers, and soared towards Septimus.

"NooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" He screamed. The arrow hit him and a huge, hot and powerful explosion erupted from the immediate area. It continued spreading, and the soldiers that were chasing Link noticed he was retreating. They were too close and they got fried by the explosion. Link ran away from it for a few moments before it faded, but the affects were already happening. The area of the cave where the bomb exploded was collapsing.

He felt exhilarated, running through the hot cave. It was exciting to him, and all the weird rock formations and the path helped him keep his mind off his odd dream. For a bit, his heart felt lighter than it had before, with him just living in the moment.

He'd worry about all his other troubles when he needed to. For now, he was just going to catch up with everybody else and get out of this cave. He doubted Begnion could pursue them now, even if they wanted to.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I think that's it." Sonic said, pointing at a large mechanized tower.

"...That wasn't here last time was it." Matt said.

"No, it wasn't." Sonic said, "At this point....I really couldn't tell you want to expect. Let's just go in and do this shall we?"

At the base of the structure, which used to be a tower to begin with, was an entrance. That much hadn't changed. They eyed the gyroscopes and other odd devices on the side with a bit of apprehension, but continued on their way. Upon stepping inside, they spied that it was just an open, cylindrical area inside.

"Not that much has changed." Sonic said, "...I'd give him...five seconds."

"...Yep...Four." Matt said.

"Three." Ness said.

"Two? The heck we counting f-" Pichu asked.

"One." Yoshi interrupted.

"Ze-" Bowser started saying, but Eggman burst through the ceiling and smashed Bowser underneath a large chunk of ceiling.

"Heh heh heh!" Eggman laughed. It was definitely the "new" Eggman because he wasn't so.....ROUND as he used to be, that, and he was inside a giant flying robot that was actually tough looking for once. Unsurprisingly, it was somewhat egg-shaped, with the wider end being the top where Eggman was protected by a three-layered dome. On HIS right side a large arm held an even more giant battle spear, and the other arm held a shield. "Meet the 'Egg Dragoon' twerps!" Eggman cackled.

"Couldn't you leave the 'Egg' out of your machine's names, for even once?" Sonic asked, not nearly as impressed as he should have been, at least by Eggman's standards.

"WHAT!?" Eggman screamed, "I'll have you know I METICULOUSLY planned the name of this one! This baby is my most powerful machine to date!"

"The innards are more important than the name, you know!" Matt scoffed, "If I can get inside and tear it apart with a wrench in five seconds, I'll laugh you into insanity, I will."

"Can't we just kick his rump already?" Bowser asked, raising one of his heavy eyebrows.

"Yeah!" Pichu said, giving off sparks from her cheeks. Yoshi didn't say anything but took a battle stance and puff up his right cheek.

"...Yeah, anyways." Matt said, "I don't have the time to take your machine apart with a wrench! How about three seconds with my fist, eh?"

"I'll go for one second to pierce you through your chest!" Eggman yelled dramatically, leaning out of his currently opened cockpit, "Egg Dragoon, Go!" He sat back down inside the cockpit and jetted off to the floor above.

"Prepare yourselves!" Sonic said, "The floor's gonna activate any second!"

"Yay! I love bouncing!" Yoshi said.

........

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!!!

Pfwoh.....

Everybody exhaled a puff of smoke at the same time.

"Oh yeah. I forgot, this floor's broken." Sonic laughed, shaking the soot off his body.

"TRY REMEMBERING THAT BEFORE WE GET FRIED!" Everybody shouted.

"Hop on the ceiling debris!" Matt said, "It went into the air when the floor turned on!" Everybody did as they were told and when the floor turned on a few moments later they were catapulted into the air. They flew through the middle of the tower, and when they went up to a certain height some shutters with the same material of the bouncy floor on them closed. In this manner, the bouncy floor pushed them to the top of a huuuuuuuuge tower in a short amount of time. At the top was what could be compared to an open air tower-top balcony with a roof over the top.

Just when they landed at the top, another shutter closed and formed a solid, flat surface for them to land on. Eggman suddenly appeared, and ripped the roof off with a swing of his conical spear, which turned out to be a lot more powerful that they expected.

"Didja miss me!?" Eggman asked scathingly as he rushed in with his battle spear and shield. Suddenly everybody shot into the air as another current surged through the floor and activated it. They were completely vulnerable in the air, and Eggman had surely considered that when constructing this arena....

BAP!

SMACK!

POW!

CRACK!

His spear crackled with lightning, and he instantly went to work playing ping-pong with his opponents. It was fifty times worse, because when all that electricity discharged into their bodies, there was nowhere for it to go. They flew around, and whether they hit ground or guard-rail was the same. The lightning attracted energy inside the structure and shocked them even more.

"OH HOH HOH HOH!!" Eggman hooted, "Did I mention, if you fall over the edge you'll die?"

"I got the idea pretty quick, Eggman." Matt panted.

"GRAWR!" Bowser growled, trying to get off his back. The lightning didn't faze him at all, but he was kind of burned from all the contact with it. Ness helped him flip back over using telekinesis.

"It hurt..." Pichu moaned.

"Not enough to stop me!" Sonic said, "You'll have to try harder than that!"

"Oh hoh hoh hoh...I'm definitely not finished yet little hedgehog. See if you can evade the rest of my attacks!" Eggman dared. He activated the floor again, and everybody bounced up into the air.

"Know what I just realized?" Sonic asked.

"What?" Ness asked.

"We can't move anywhere while we're bouncing like this!" Sonic said, "There's nothing to kick off of!"

"He's right!" Bowser said, "....Grr!!!"

"So we're just sitting ducks huh?" Pichu asked, enraged.

"I'm not!" Yoshi said, flutter kicking away.

"Oh no you don't!" Eggman shouted, swooping in. He slammed his spear into Yoshi in mid-flight and sent Yoshi screaming towards the edge. He actually went over the side, but he grabbed the rail with his tongue. Unfortunately the energy in his body from the spear discharged then, and paralyzed him. The only think keeping him from falling to his spiky death was his sticky tongue.

"Arararararar...."Yoshi mumbled, numbly.

"DANG IT!" Matt yelled angrily, " Bowser, it looks like we're the only two here strong enough to attack him at this point."

"EXCUSE me?" Ness asked incredulously, "I DO believe I can be of some assistance!"

"That armor on that machine...I looked good and hard at it." Matt said, "It would take something short of a miracle to get through it!"

"What's it made of then?" Ness asked.

"It's not pure Adamantite, but it's mixed with something else just as strong!" Matt said, "The only way to stop this is smashing that light on his chest," Matt pointed at a green light on Eggman's machine's chest type area, "Or by taking down Eggman himself!"

"Do it then." Bowser said, "I'll cover you!"

"Why can't I do anything!?" Pichu asked angrily.

"He made that robot to absorb lightning." Matt said, "Stand back. You'd just fuel his battle suit."

"GOLEM FIST!" Bowser shouted. He leaned back and stood on one foot, then leaned forward and punched. His arm stretched and swelled to the size of a bus and kept on going.

"OH MY GAWSH!" Eggman screamed. The fist slammed into his Machine and sent it flying, but once more Bowser's fist crumbled and left a whole bunch of broken rock fragments lying everywhere.

"Are you sure that doesn't hurt?" Matt asked as he charged energy.

"It didn't that time, but it keeps breaking apart because I can't hold it together, know what I mean?" Bowser grunted in effort.

"I think I understand your powers better now." Matt said, nodding. "Here goes!" He flipped into the air and crossed his arms. With a burst of dark crackling sparks or shadow, a heavy chestplate made of purple Chaosuranium formed on his chest and shoulders. A metal pack also appeared on his back. His hair and shirt turned to a purple color as well, and his pants turned black as an eyepatch materialized over his scarred eye.

"Now, let's get down to business." Matt said in a huskier voice.

"I'm never gonna get used to that." Bowser whispered to Ness and Pichu while he massaged his arm. The two smaller smashers nodded in agreement.

"No dilly-dallying." Matt said, "You two can try helping if you wish, just don't come crying to me when you get beaten by Eggman."

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Ness whimpered.

"Yours of course." Matt said, "Try to keep up." He turned towards Eggman, and crouched "Grav Flux Singuli." He suddenly flew in the direction Eggman was in, as if he were falling. Ness, Pichu, and Bowser also...Fell in that direction.

"Atom Kick." Matt said. His leg turned pitch dark and he twirled in the air before doing a devastating axe kick on Eggman that sent him flying.

"What's with this sudden power!?" Eggman yelled. Matt changed the direction of their gravity again just as Bowser tackled Eggman's machine. The sudden momentum change turned Bowser's tackle into a pile driver, and Eggman slammed straight into the ground. While he was down, Ness fully charged his PK thunder, Fire, and Flash attacks and released them at at the same time to create his PK Maelstrom attack. The blast hit Eggman's dome and burnt it black with soot, effectively blinding him. While he was still down, Bowser used his Golem Punch again and knocked him back into the air. He spun around once to shake the soot off, then pounded the button controlling the bouncy floors on the tower.

"Ok, I am backth." Yoshi said, pulling himself back up from the edge. "Huh?" He watched as Eggman fired pulses of lightning at Bowser, Ness, Pichu, and Matt....who looked different again. "Justh what is heth?" Yoshi asked himself. "....Darn my strethed tongueth."

Matt couldn't move fast enough and got blasted by one of the laser balls, which paralyzed him. Pichu was also bouncing around, completely still. Ness was keeping himself aloft in the air for short intervals with his telekinesis, but only to get him moving in different directions. Bowser was exchanging blows with Eggman but beating on him with giant stone fists. By now there was lots of rocks bouncing everywhere, and visibility was getting poor. When Matt regained control of his body he created localized balls of garvity around his hands, which amidst all the debris formed basketball sized rocks. Using the power that came with his dark form, Matt chucked the newly created boulders at Eggman like a machine gun and sent tremors through the machine, all of which shook Eggman inside like he was a pile of jell-o. While he was stunned Bowser used another really big punch and sent him flying again.

"Black Hole CANNONBALL!" Matt roared. He transformed his metal arm into a gun, which started sucking in all the rocks floating about and formed a super-dense cannonball. He then fired the cannonball using the remainder of his dark Chaos powers, and reverted back to normal as the cannonball took off.

It slammed right into Eggman's machine and created a gigantic dent right in thr front of the machine, and utterly destroyed the power core in the machine's middle.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Eggman screamed.

The cannonball lost its density and the rocks exploded in every direction like a super powerful bomb. The smashers ducked for cover,a nd the rocks that missed them battered the floor so bad it stopped being bouncy.

After the effects faded, all that happened to the armor of Eggman's machine was it got a large, cracked dent. In the end it wasn't enough to break through.

"Heh! Think that would be enough to stop me!?" Eggman asked as he got back up.

"...Darn." Matt sighed, "I can't transform again. I used up all my spare Chaos energy!"

"And my punches still don't have any effect." Bowser growled.

"Prepare to be defeated once and for all!" Eggman said, charging up his spear. He held it back and prepared to skewer Matt, Bowser, Pichu, and Ness, but suddenly an egg flew in and splatted on the spear. "Eh?"

He sat there staring at the goo on his spear for a moment before it suddenlt fizzled out and snapped in half. The egg was full of acidinc poison, poison that ate right through the metal!

"You leave my friend alone!" Yoshi shouted, throwing another egg. It flew the cracked area on the machine.

"NOOOO!! Stop!" Eggman demanded. He tried to shield himself, if only to buy time. Bowser punched the shield arm so hard though with his Golem Fist, that the arm finally snapped right off. "STOP!"

The egg splatted on the cracked area, and in just a few moments the metal started hissing and bubbling. In a few moments there was a gaping hole, and it kept getting wider and wider.

"I WAS SO CLOSE!" Eggman wailed. The acid evaporated kind of fast though....While it was evaporating Matt charged towards Eggman's machine, and while it was still flying he jumped right into the hole...with a wrench.

Just a moment later, Eggman's ship plummeted to the ground, steam hissing from all over the place.

"Dang you fools!" Eggman cried, ejecting himself from the machine. A second later Matt jumped out while it was still falling. He was clear of it before it hit the ground, and when it did it exploded and sprayed shrapnel everywhere. Eggman was far out of hearing range by the time Matt looked back in his direction, but he said it anyways.

"....And for the record, Eggman...It took me a second." Matt smirked, tossing his wrench up and down.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**I don't care to say anything. I'll see you peeps later! I hope you enjoyed! ^_^**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-Shining Riku-  
**


	71. A Split in Time: A Parting of Fate

**I'll go ahead and hazard a guess that most of you readers have forgotten me by now, which I have to admit is a shame, but most of that is my own good fault for not posting an update in over a year.**

**I'm hoping to say that I'm back, and for good until I'm finished writing all my stories. While writing Fanfiction is really fun for me and all, I also have other things going on in my life that need attention, so I may not update as much as I used to in my golden days. Man, I gotta say it feels good to be typing again for the purpose of entertainment. This last year the most typing I ever did was for projects and papers and the like.**

**Now once again these fingers will be used for writing awesome stories! XDD**

**SO! Now that that is finished, let me re-introduce myself. I'm Shining Riku! You can thank all my homework and stuff, and a good friend (Kbxshadow, I'm lookin' at you) for helping me out with grammar stuff in the past. Now I should be able to write more neatly and help you guys appreciate your time spent reading more.**

**Geez I must sound like an old man, and I'm barely 20. I didn't type this up to 'yak' your ears off. For those of you that have read this story up to this point, welcome back! If you need a refresher just scroll back a few chapters or start over to get your bearings back. Otherwise, newcomers and old pals alike will be lost XD**

**Here we go, everybody! Just like old times, hopefully!**

**Roll the Chapter!

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**Chapter XXXXXXXI: A Split in Time: A Parting of Fate  
**

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* * *

**Back in the Wacky Workbench world, Matt's team took some time to stretch and attempt recovering from their brutal brawl against Eggman's Egg Dragoon Machine. The fight left the tower aerie in shambles. The bouncing floor was torn up so badly from shrapnel that the circuits were all severed, and the iron canopy that used to be overhead was also torn to shreds. The railing along the sides of the tower was no better off.

Matt sat down amidst the rubble, meditating to restore his lost Chaos energy while the rest of the crew tested parts of their bodies for unknown wounds.

"When we confront Metal Sonic, we'll need to be at our best." Sonic warned, "Eggman actually put up a fight this time and damaged us a whole lot."

"You forgot about the Time Stones." Ness said, "Surely we can use their power for something helpful?"

"Not necessarily." Sonic ruefully replied, "They can only alter the flow of time. To be honest, I haven't tried. I just don't know what they're really capable of."

"Time we found out, eh?" Bowser growled.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." mumbled Pichu.

"How do you think I use it?" Sonic asked as he examined the green time stone in his hands. He turned it over looking at its faceted sides as if he were looking for a button or switch to move.

"I expect its nature to be similar to a Chaos Emerald." Matt said, "I'm not feeling any chaos energy emitting from it, but it feels a bit similar. I couldn't sense the similarity until we got the last stone. My ten year old body wasn't in tune with the forces of chaos so I wouldn't be able to identify any type of energy even if a load of it slammed into me."

"Now that you mention it..." said Sonic as he tapped the side of the stone, "...I think I feel what you mean. Does this mean the Time Stones and Chaos Emeralds are related?"

"Just use it already!" Urged Ness.

"Sheesh, fine already." Sonic huffed, "...Well, here goes!" He raised the stone above his head and drew on the stone's power just like he'd normally draw energy from a Chaos Emerald. Once he was in possession of its power he moved the energy to his left hand, which wasn't holding anything and created a ball of energy. He smashed it by clenching his fist, and that's when things went strange.

Everything around Sonic instantly went grey and froze solid. Not as in frozen over with ice, but all movement ceased. Sonic felt his spines standing up on end. This was just like Chaos Control, but even more powerful!

"This isn't moving at the speed of light...it's stopping everything else!" Sonic shouted to himself. He looked at the stone in wonderment, and thought about how to dispel the effects of the Time Stop he'd initiated. He attempted to draw back in the power he'd scattered by clenching his fist, but nothing happened. For one panicked moment he thought he'd be trapped in this one instant of time for the rest of his life, but then the stone's light faded and everything went back to normal in a flash.

"so, what happened? It failed, didn't it." Matt asked in a matter-of-fact tone.

"...None of you guys noticed anything?" Sonic asked, surprised.

"What're you talking about?" Pichu asked while cocking her head sideways, "You used the stone, there was a flash, and then you started looking all scared! You turnin' into a chicken, Sonic?"

"I used something like Chaos Control!" Sonic insisted, getting a slightly deranged look and pointing wildly at his timestone.

"Really?" Matt asked, "It worked?"

"Yeah really! Well...it's not Chaos Control." Sonic said, "It's something like it, but at the same time different. It seems like it completely stopped the flow of time around me."

"Then test it again!" Ness said, "this time, do something to make us see proof!"

"Gotta see it to believe it huh." Sonic frowned, "Well, fine! Ya asked for it!" The time stone gave off another flash, and once again everything went gray for Sonic. He then walked over to a random giant chunk of scrap metal and shoved it over right in front of Ness' frozen face, and canceled the time freeze. Ness instantly jumped into the air with a shriek of surprise.

"How do you like THAT?" Sonic asked with a cocky tone. Ness gasped, trying to recover his breath while Sonic crossed his arms and flashed a triumphant smile.

"That's definitely different from Chaos Control." Matt said, surprised, "I couldn't sense any movement at all. It was instantaneous."

"I know, right?" Sonic replied, all smiles, "this makes me excited to know what the other stones do!"

"If what you said is right, this Time Stop is different than Chaos Control." Ness said, "It should be used with that in mind."

"Now that you mention it, I can't teleport with it." Sonic said, "I can move stuff around when time's frozen but it doesn't save any energy at all."

"Exactly."

"Well, it'll still be handier than Chaos Control, in certain circumstances. It's a good start." replied Sonic.

Matt stood up from his sitting position before speaking. "Let's see if there's any other power these stones have. We have some time before we have to go on to the next world, so let's practice on the way there."

"Sounds like an idea to me!"

* * *

Back in Tellius, the Laguz Alliance was just exiting the Kauku Caverns, where they'd fought General Septimus of Begnion and emerged victorious. The healthy laguz soldiers helped carry their wounded comrades. Even Skrimir, who was badly defeated by Zelgius, carried two men on his shoulders. To say the army was in bad shape was an understatement: those that weren't wounded were terribly exhausted and half were barely able to shift into their animal forms.

In the middle of the chaotic victory cheers, Ike's team looked around uneasily.

"Guys, I don't think this is Gallia." Ike grimaced.

"What! How could this be?" Skrimir asked.

"If this isn't Gallia...then...Oh no." Ranulf muttered. He looked to the sky to see three gigantic red dragons beating the air aside with their wings, and with a gigantic tremor the landed on the ground in front of the army.

"You've trespassed on the land of Goldoa!" The dragons boomed out over the masses. Luigi fell back on his butt in surprise and fear, and Samus menacingly cocked her gun and gave off a few sparks.

"Why'd it have to be Goldoa?" Ranulf lamented.

"Looks like we'll have to pay that old lizard a visit after all." King Tibarn, the hawk king, said.

Reyson, one of the royal Heron laguz, spoke up next saying, "Let's go then."

-~Goldoa, the Dragon Kingdom~-

Goldoa proved to be a very arid region. Outside the gigantic keep hewn out of sandstone, desert spread out for miles to see. Within the walls of the keep, an exotic and beautifully ornate city rose up from the ground, with a large central castle in the middle of it all. Huge towers stretched into the heavens, and it was a wonder something so large could get as high as it was without collapsing.

"This is absolutely remarkable architecture!" Lyon exclaimed. One of the dragon soldiers escorting them whipped around and growled at him, and he shut up immediately.

"I don't think they want us talking." Samus said, speaking normally. The same soldier turned to her, but before he could hiss, Samus beat him to it and her suit gave off a threatening hiss of steam. The dragon soldier glared for another moment, during which the bounty hunter cocked her gun. He didn't know who this strange, armored warrior was, and so wisely kept his distance.

"Don't speak about things that you cannot appreciate." He said, "These fine buildings took years of careful sculpting to create."

"How many years?" Lyon asked.

"A century."

Lyon only paled, giving no verbal reply since his voice would have cracked on him.

"Roy, I have a feeling you should keep your heritage quiet here." Link said

"How come?"

"I've heard some things...about 'taboos' in this world." Link said, "I think it's best to avoid any misunderstandings. If you need proof, I hear laguz can sense when others are, well, different, and you're getting a lot of stares."

True to his word, quite a few of the townsfolk were looking at the odd procession, and around half of the gazes were fixed on Roy. He raised a hand and waved, and everybody looked away at once and resumed their work. Roy's hand stayed suspended in midair for a bit before slowly falling back down to his side. He spent the rest of the walk to the castle in an uneasy silence.

* * *

"With these abilities we should be be able to trash Metal Sonic!" Yoshi cheered

"I'm so excited." Pichu tittered.

"We're almost at Stardust Speedway now." Sonic announced, "Matt, how's your power?"

"I've gotten almost all of it back." Matt replied, "I can definitely fight now if that's what you're asking."

"I'm ready and rawring to go." Bowser said, pumping his arm muscle.

"He didn't ask you." Ness said, facepalming.

"Stuff it twerp!" said Bowser as he bonked Ness.

"YOW! I feel like I got bricked!"

"That's enough you two." Matt stepped between the two and separated them. "We're a team. Stop acting like petty children!"

"I AM a kid thanks!" Ness said.

"He's right ya know." Bowser said.

"Ok guys, you ready?" Sonic asked, "Metal Sonic is waiting for us at the end of this area, we should be ready for anything."

"We're there already?" Pichu asked.

"Duh I jut said we were close a bit ago." Sonic scowled.

"No need to be cranky!"

"What is it with everybody!" Matt screamed, "You're all driving me nuts! How hard can it be to get along!"

"It's impossible to get along with kids, I swear!" Bowser said, "They're always picking fights!"

"Oh yeah? Big tough badguys like yourself must get a kick outta pestering kids like me!" Ness shouted, "You can't pick on people like Mario or Luigi so you go for the easy prey like me! Well guess what mister! I'm not easy prey!"

"Just between you an' me, I thought us rodents would understand each other better than most." Pichu said, tugging at the hem of Matt's pant leg.

"If your ears were good for anything besides landing jet planes on, I'd at least think you could hear with them!" Sonic said, tugging his own, slightly smaller ears.

"How dare you insult a lady!" Pichu yelped.

"It isn't hard to listen!" Sonic insisted, "I bet you could tune into a few secret satellite signals if you wanted! With a little willpower you never know!"

At this, Pichu's big eyes got all watery and within seconds she started bawling like a baby. Sonic and Pichu continued insulting each other while Ness and Bowser butted heads and growled menacingly at each other.

Without a moment's hesitation, Matt clapped Ness's and Bowser's heads together and Yoshi stopped the two rodents from arguing with a tail whip.

"Keep it together people!" Matt roared, "You can put your differences aside for just a bit longer until we can take out Metal Sonic! After that I don't care what the flip you do!"

"You all should be ashamed of yourselves!" Yoshi said, "We were getting along just fine a while ago!"

"I was just keeping my anger to myself. I heard it every time you jerks called me slow." Bowser said.

"So you had to go and take it out on me huh?" Ness asked.

"Stop it right there" Matt said, "We're going straight to the Stardust Speedway, and Sonic's leading the way. Any more complaints, you tell me."

With that, the team, if you could still call it that, marched off in the direction of a futuristic looking city looming on the horizon. Gigantic spotlights traveled across the darkened skies as if calling the smashers to enter its dangerous territory.

* * *

-~Goldoa~-

Up in one of the high towers of the castle, the Smashers waited for the meeting with the Dragon King to end. They didn't know him personally so they weren't allowed to stand on ceremony like the other laguz royalty, and Ike. He was a hero of no small renown in his homeland, so he was allowed to attend as well.

Roy looked out one of the windows, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and head to the side. What Link had told him was bothering him. Apparently he was an outcast in this world, having dragon blood running through his veins even though technically it wasn't laguz blood.

_"You can't tell anybody that you have dragon blood." Link said._

_"How come?" Roy asked._

_"While it may not be the same thing as having laguz blood, to these people there will be no difference. We can't risk losing their help. Ike is too caught up in this war to get out of it now, and if we can't afford to be shunned by his allies. We need their help just as much as we need Ike's."_

_"So if somebody finds out my secret there's a possibility we'll lose our only chance of saving Samus' life."_

_"Exactly. I'm not saying you're a burden at all, Roy. Please don't think that. You're as good a swordsman as myself if not better. Since we're in the same group though, the Laguz Alliance may...see us as unfavorable company. I don't know if Ike can help us if that happens, no matter how much trust he's earned. We don't need to put him in that position."_

_"Alright, I get it. I'll do what I can to keep my identity secret."_

_"Thanks Roy. And, I'm glad you're here, even if it turns out this whole continent ends up wanting you gone."_

_"I know."_

Roy sighed, and lowered his head to his chest. The pose he was currently holding to look aloof and such was taking its toll on him. He held his arms above his head and stretched them out as far as he could, and then quickly dropped himself to the ground and crossed his legs.

"What's taking so looooooong?" Luigi moaned.

"I heard this might take awhile, so try and relax will you?" said Fox as he lay on the stone floor with his head resting on his arms, "Also...I don't advise laying on this floor unless you have padding like my fur. It hurts even with it."

"Then stop laying on the floor!" Samus said, "How about you dance a bit while I shoot at you?"

"You already got Marth, why do you need to trash me too!" Fox bellowed.

"He's spent already." Samus said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder toward Marth, who was a smoking heap in one of the corners.

"I used up my Mend Staff already." A sullen Lyon replied.

"You were supposed to help him, not make him suffer more!" Link exclaimed.

"I couldn't help that! I was just trying to keep him alive!"

"I can't help that I'm getting so strong that I break all my toys." Samus huffed.

"All the more reason to leave me the heck be!" Fox said.

"Well, to heck with the leaving you the heck be!" Samus said, cocking her gun. A missile screamed from the opening of her power cannon and hit the stone floor where Fox was laying, moments before. Samus looked up to see Fox running straight up one of the stone columns with his sheer speed. Samus switched to her Power Beam and fired a rapid stream of photons at him as he ran, but he sidestepped all of the lasers and reached a ledge that ran along the inside of the mahogany stone dome that adorned the top of the tower. Upon reaching the top ledge Fox lowered his legs over the edge and sat down. "Looking mighty comfy up there." Samus remarked.

"You bet." Fox said, "The moment you try shooting something at me i'll have ample time to put up my reflector and send it right back at your sneering mug!"

"I don't sneer!" Samus claimed, "You can't even see my face!"

"Very clearly at least." Fox said.

"C'mon down! Please? I won't hurt you too bad!"

"I promise you I will do nothing, and I mean nothing at all, to soothe your itching trigger finger! Try some Benadryl or something! It might work."

"Bah! You're boring!"

"And safe."

They continued throwing verbal jabs at each other, which echoed through the tower and mixed to create unintelligible noise.

"That's enough!" A bellow came from the staircase. The tower started shaking, and soon the mean dragon soldier from before that was bullying Lyon was standing in the only doorway to the tower.

"Enough of what?" Link asked.

"You! All of you polluting this sacred tower with your noise!"

"This is too loud fer you?" Samus asked, "I could always shoot you instead of Fox up there."

"That vermin is up there?" The soldier asked, looking up to see Fox sitting on the ledge still. Fox flashed a toothy grin and waved. "Get down from there and stop messing it up! You know how hard it is to get up there and clean!"

"Sorry to make you mad, Janitor." Samus said, rubbing her helmet with her left hand, "But, I'd think a soldier like you wouldn't have to clean this place right?"

"What else do I have to do while you idiots make war outside this country?" He grumbled, "and i'm no janitor!"

"Then stop complaining! If you don't hafta clean it then go back downstairs and guard the entrance!"

"I still can't let you mess it up!"

"You wanna be my target practice?"

"Bring it on, iron shrimp! I'll tear you apart!"

"Your funeral, Janitor." Samus said. The laguz soldier shifted into his dragon form immediately, and towered over the present company. Marth scuttled into the corner along with Luigi and Lyon, while the rest of the smashers stood their ground.

And just like that it was over. Samus fired her grapple beam, wrapped it around the dragon's torso, and one huge lightning blast later, he was smoking on the stone floor, KO'd by Samus' potent lightning powers.

"That wasn't anything special at all." Samus remarked.

* * *

-~Stardust Speedway~-

Sonic's team continued blazing through the futuristic city, looking for the end that'd ultimately mean a re-encounter with one of the former Fallen Angels, Metal Sonic.

"Badnik on your left!" Sonic shouted out to Bowser. The Badnik, one of Dr. Eggman's creations, flew alongside Bowser's head. With some speed and skill, Sonic flipped and landed on Bowser's head, and then did a handstand sweep kick to blow the robot away.

It was just one of many to pursue the team as they progressed through the new area. They were mostly in the form of lightning bugs, with large transparent lightbulbs on their rears. Each time two or more of them flashed, lightning connected them for a moment, making it really difficult for the smashers to keep running without being hit.

Pichu blasted a few more down out of the air with Thunder attacks. Even though the thunder didn't damage them, it moved them into Yoshi's range, who consumed them and fired them back at their allies newly reincarnated as eggs. Ness rode Bowser's spiky shell and continuously used PK Flash for crowd control purposes. Matt and Sonic were all over the place, shooting down the Badniks with projectile attacks.

The team entered an alley between two buildings, with the swarm of fireflies hot on their tails. Ness charged up one huge PK Flash in his hands, and then threw it behind the team to eliminate all of the Badniks in one brilliant flash of fireworks. Another ambush of badniks dropped in front of them just before exiting the alley. Sonic and Matt jumped onto the walls opposite from each other and wall kicked to meet in the middle, where they hooked their right arms and unleashed a devastating wheel kick. They blew out of the alley with the fireflies exploding outward in a plash pattern. A few of them weren't hit hard enough to die right away, so Pichu skipped off all of them with Quick attack, leaving them all to explode simultaneously. Another huge swarm flew in from almost nowhere to replace them.

"These things just keep coming!" Pichu panted, landing on Bowser's shell next to Ness.

"I might actually run out of psychic energy at this rate." Ness remarked as he wiped some sweat from his brow.

"I see what looks like an opera hall ahead. We can make a stand there." Matt said while preparing another round of bullets for his gun, "I think we're all beginning to run low on energy, even me."

"You just recharged a bit ago!" Yoshi shouted.

While Yoshi fired off another volley of eggs, Matt replied, "Yes, well it so happens i've had to do a lot more battling since then than I expected. I was hoping to just have to battle Metal Sonic, and not all of these Fireflies."

"My sentiments exactly!" Sonic quipped.

"Is it agreed that we make a stand at the opera house place?"

"Yes!" Everybody else answered unanimously.

"Let's go!" Matt cried. The team increased their speed as they approached the building. Fifteen feet from the front door, they all flipped into the air and tackled the door at the same time. The force blew the door right open, and the Smashers gained entrance unhindered. They soared into the middle of the room and landed on the marble floor on their feet. They skidded back for a while and watched as the gigantic doors bounced off the inner walls of the building and closed with the leftover force. Soon after a whole bunch of impacts and explosions rocked the door as Fireflies pelted into it at high speed. They prepared their weapons and waited for the time to stand their ground to come.

"Pichu! Explore this place and see if you can't find a Sign that'll either teleport us to the past, or future! It's gona be close!" Matt said, "If we combine our effort, we should be able to force the time portal open instead of having to pick up speed and activate it the old fashioned way."

"Ok!" Pichu said, saluting, "You guys keep them outta this place ok?"

"Good luck." Ness said, pulling out his bat while behind him Pichu took off into the depths of the building.

* * *

-~Goldoa~-

Back at the tower where the Smashers were waiting, things were quiet again. Samus finally had the sense to take a nap and let her inner demons(Namely her tendency to shoot moving objects) lie. The dragon guard had shrunk back down to his human form, but still lay smoking. Marth was conscious now but was smoking as well. Fox had jumped down from the high ledge inside of the dome as soon as he was sure Samus was asleep, and was now engaged in conversation with Link and Roy.

"Well, how would you say we're doing, Link?" Fox asked, "Time wise at least."

"I dunno." Link replied, "Personally we've been here for too long, and I hate to stay separated from everybody for so long, but we've no choice. For now, we continue helping Ike of course, but we also need to get Samus healed. She may only have a week or two before she goes terminal."

"Any idea what THAT means?" Roy asked.

"No. I'm only repeating what I've heard from her myself. I assume going terminal is really really bad." Link said.

"It means dying." Fox answered, "In her case, it may mean complete phazon corruption."

"She also said that this phazon corruption may be because Dark Samus, or Metroid Prime, did something to her." Link replied.

"How is that possible?" Roy asked, "Kirby defeated Metroid Prime back in Dhaos' castle."

"How'd you get KO'd by the Black Knight just a few days ago?" Link retorted, "Some event that's beyond our understanding, at least at the moment, has resulted in the re-appearance of some of our old foes. Another reason we need to get back on the road is to find out how extensive the damage is. I think we've only scratched the surface here."

"That's what I think too." Fox said, "I think we're still in agreement though, that we need to heal Samus and re-recruit Ike if possible."

"There'll be no need for re-recruitment."

The trio whipped their heads around to see Ike standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"We're not gonna force you or anything if that's what you're thinking." Link replied with a sheepish look.

"I know." Ike said, sitting down next to them and forming a square with each of them at the corners. "Tell me more about what's going on."

"Well, as you know full well, the Black Knight is alive again." Fox said.

"I may be no genius, I appreciate being a rather simple man, but it almost seems to me like time's been reset." Ike said, "Remember when the planets merged into one, before our battle with Dhaos? During that campaign, i'd been gone from my homeland for at least a month, if not more. I turned in my resignation after that last battle and left soon after to return to Tellius. My trip took another week to get back to Crimea, and I found out from my fellow mercenaries that, to them, i'd been gone but a few days. That month of my life felt like nothing more than a dream to me that moment."

"Ike, I think you've just given us one of the answers that we've been looking for." Fox whistled.

"If that's true, what else has been reset?" Roy wondered, "If i'm not mistaken, each planet had it's own timeline, and of course its own history. It's impossible to know how much time might have gone back in some areas."

"It may well mean the return of more than one of the Fallen Angels." Link answered grimly, "Ike, now, more than ever, we need to get Ragnell back and take the Black Knight down. He may not technically be the same man we fought at Dhaos' keep, but the possibility of something weird happening with him is there. We can't afford it."

"I was hoping I could stay here in Tellius peacefully after this war ended and all...but it looks like my path has been made up for me after all." Ike sighed, "The Goddesses have seen it fit to send me off to continue helping people."

"What were you planning on doing after all this insanity calmed down?" Roy asked.

"To be completely truthful...I do not know." Ike replied, "I suppose it was a foolish whim of mine to the end."

"If I have to die, i'd rather it be with a blade in my hand." Link said, "Maybe some part of you, Ike, is the same way. I don't think it's foolish to want peace. It's something we should strive for. Life seems to have a way of putting us in the line of fire though, after we feel like we've stopped everything."

"Yeah.."

"..."

"Oh, right!" Ike suddenly said, "The meeting's over! That's why I came down here! Ha!"

"Oh! What's the news?" Fox asked, "Are we in trouble? Are we gonna be "special guests" at the next feast the Dragons have?"

"Nope, we're all clear. Albeit begrudgingly, the Dragon King has allowed us safe passage to Gallia, just this once. We're in the clear!"

The trio let out a shout of triumph, which woke the dragon soldier from his next-to-comatose state and also surprised the other smashers. Marth, who was treating his burn wounds with his Ice Brand, jumped and cut himself by accident. His arm began crystallizing so he ran about in a panic. Lyon dug in his bag for a Restore Staff to help prevent Marth's transition from hero to ice sculpture. Samus also woke up.

"SHADDAP YOU SCREAMIN FOO'!" Samus shouted. She fired a missile at Marth that blew up the ice covering his arm, but it also knocked him out of the window facing the front side of the castle.

"What did I do to deserve thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis?" Marth yowled as he plummeted.

"Rescue." Lyon mumbled grumpily, holding out a different staff than a Restore. A set of floating runes appeared in the room, and Marth smacked into the stone floor. "I saved you half the fall. Don't bother thanking me."

"You're not welcome." Marth answered, rubbing his sore face.

"Darn." Samus said.

"You idiots can't just up and leave!" The goldoan soldier said.

"Sorry, but we have to!" Roy said, "King's orders!"

The team walked out of the tower with Ike at its head, and finally it felt like he was part of the team once more.

* * *

Back at the Opera House in Stardust Speedway, things were not running smoothly.

The Smashers futilely fought back against the limitless Fireflies, and there was still no news from Pichu. They didn't know if she'd be caught, or if she just wasn't having any luck finding a Time Travel sign.

Now that they were officially on defense, Bowser freely used his earth powers as opposed to just running from the fireflies like before. His huge boulder fist expanded outward and crushed multitudes of the Badniks before hitting the opera house's walls and exploding into rock fragments. Matt lunged at an especially large chunk of rock and propelled it towards another gaggle of Fireflies with a kick. The rock punched a hole through the swarm it was aimed at, and Ness intercepted the rock on the other side with a PK Flash. The explosion destroyed the rock and sent debris flying back at the swarm it just came from. The swarm exploded as it was impacted by the meteor shower and scattered sparks everywhere.

Down on the ground again, Yoshi and Sonic teamed up and used Egg Roll and Spin Dash, respectively, to take out enemies near or on the ground. They ricocheted off each other and picked up speed after each collision, and soon they were bouncing off the walls and plowing through enemies left and right. With Yoshi and Sonic taking care of the aerial foes, Matt and company switched targets and started taking down opponents closer to the ground.

Just then, Pichu dashed into the room. "Hurry! I found a big sign that'll give us the power we need! Follow me!"

"Good work, Pichu!" Matt said. He fired another bullet over his shoulder to take out a Firefly that was about to attack him, and then the team bolted off after Pichu, who entered a side passage that led upstairs. Bowser was the last to enter. Before the Fireflies got close enough, Bowser turned and expanded his fist in the hallway until it was completely blocked off with stone. He broke free from it and as he retreated, the fireflies bashed into it from the other side and exploded like fireworks. The leftover fireflies backed up and took off for the balconies in the opera hall, which the smashers would have to pass in their ascent.

In front of Pichu, the curtains tore to shreds along the path and more Fireflies came flying in. Sonic jumped ahead and started kicking and punching and homing dashing them into oblivion while the others passed. After he was finished taking out the Badniks he dashed to catch up.

Around another turn, the Smashers found the sign in a circular room. On each side of the sign was a word, one side was "Future", the other was "Past"

"Finally!" Ness said, "Good work Pichu!"

"Let's just get outta here!" Pichu insisted, "Before those stupid Fireflies come back!"

"Too late!" Bowser said. Behind them, an even bigger swarm than before amassed. All too soon, it was over. They all gave off a horrific flash at once, and a flash of lightning slammed into the smashers. They went flying into the circular room, sparks falling off them like stardust. They slammed into the spinning time travel sign and scattered all over the room. Sonic and Pichu hit the Future side, while Ness and Bowser hit the Past side. Matt and Yoshi both bounced off the top. The room filled with humming light as the sign spun at high speed, and another lightning bolt hit the room. A huge glowing sphere of energy formed inside the whirlwind that now took up space inside most of the room, which the smashers were caught in. The humming grew louder and louder as the energy grew larger and wilder and the chaos increased. The fireflies were sucked in as well, but the energy vaporized them.

There was finally a huge explosion as the energy compressed and formed a ball in the middle of the room and then detonated. Matt and Yoshi slammed into the wall and passed out from all the abuse they'd taken. The impact was the last straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

Ness, Pichu, Sonic, and Bowser were nowhere to be seen. The Opera House was beginning to crumble around them, but there was nothing Matt or Yoshi could do to protect themselves.

The Opera House finally gave up its ghost, and with an almighty crash the building caved in on itself and sent a plume of dust and debris up into the sky of Stardust Speedway.

* * *

**This chapter is finally finished! Wow! XD So! Um, this one took me about five days maybe, cuz I was lazy.**

**I can't apologize enough for keeping all of you waiting for so long, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll begin working on the next one really soon. Things have to cool off first over here before i'll get any real work done. My sis is graduating from College today as I type this, so in about three hours i'll be at her college for her graduation ceremony. It just reminds me how far behind I myself am...Ya see in the past year I haven't updated I've done my first year of College but i'll most likely be working for a while from this point on. It wasn't College that kept me from updating though, that would be my own laziness ^_^;;**

**So i'm gonna fix the laziness and get back to working on this story in some of my spare time! I finally have energy to spare, at least towards my projects, so hopefully that means i'll be able to get my spark back. Lol.**

**It's good to be back, everybody! :D**

**Mario: And it better-a be for good!**

**Paul: Yeah, I know you're planning a manga in your spare time as well, but you could at least not leave us and our readers hanging like that again!**

**I know I know. I'll do what I can. For now though guys, I'll see you next time! Thanks for reading! Let today, 2 days after mah third anniversary for this story, mah comeback, and mah sis's graduation, be remembered!  
**

**With that said, Adieu, and Review!**

**-~Shining Riku~-  
**


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